Albus Potter and the Hero He Knew Not
by KEB94
Summary: Albus Potter always knew his dad was special. But he never expected this. As he embarks on the adventure of his first year at Hogwarts with his best friends Rose and Scorpius, he'll discover truths about his family he'd never have dreamed of.
1. Hogwarts

**Chapter One  
>Hogwarts<strong>

Albus sat beside the window of the carriage, accompanied by his cousins Rose and Lucy Weasley, and their close family friend, Alice Longbottom. The three girls were talking quietly among themselves, Alice and Lucy – who were Second Years and best friends – giving Rose some friendly advice.

Albus himself was, on the other hand, staring through the window, taking in the beautiful, rich scenery. Absentmindedly, he found himself stroking the head of the snowy white owl he had fallen in love with the second he had walked into Eyelopes Owlery. His father had named it Hedwig, after his first owl. It had been the first time he had ever spoken to his children of his past.

The girls conversation was cut off and Albus' thoughts disrupted by the compartment door opening. A young boy with white-blonde hair and pale blue eyes was standing in the doorway, sheepishly looking from face to face.

"Do you mind?" He asked them, as though particularly unsure of the answer they would give. "It's only, everywhere else is full."

"Not at all," Albus answered for the group. "Please, join us."

The boy smiled, sitting on the same seat as Albus, on the end closest to the door. "I'm Scorpius, by the way. Scorpius Malfoy." He held out his hand, which Albus shook.

"Albus Potter." Scorpius' eyes opened wide in shock. "These are my cousins, Rose and Lucy, and Lucy's best friend Alice."

The girls waved quietly, before returning to their quiet conversation.

"That's a beautiful owl you've got there," Scorpius commented. "What's his name?"

"Her," Albus corrected him, receiving a confused look from his companion. "It's a her. And her name is Hedwig."

"Wait – did you say your name was Albus _Potter_?" Scorpius asked, but backtracked upon seeing the look on Albus' face. "It's only, my dad's mentioned a Harry Potter a few times. Apparently he saved my dad's life during the War."

Albus was thoroughly shocked. "My dad saved _lives_ during the War? I mean, I knew he fought, but … saving _lives_?" Shaking his head, he quickly continued, "Nah, can't be the same guy. He would've told us."

"Hang on a minute," Alice jumped in to the conversation. "Dad's mentioned something about the War once or twice – no, it was about his Seventh Year. Something about hiding out with a whole group of people and then your dad came in and there was this huge battle-"

"-The Battle of Hogwarts," Rose added knowledgably.

"-Right, yeah, the Battle of Hogwarts. Anyway, that was fought, and the good side won, and the bad guys were defeated. But he said it was all because of your dad, Albus."

Albus sat for a moment, processing his thoughts. Could it be true? Could his dad be some sort of a war hero? And why had he never been told about it?

It was almost five o'clock now, and all the occupants of the carriage were now engaged in several loud conversations – Albus and Scorpius were, most notably, having an animated discussion on the topic of Quidditch.

"I support the Comets – they're a shoe-in for the cup this season."

"No, no, no. Don't discount the Harpies just yet," Albus replied, to his new friend's astonishment. "Hey, don't give me that look! My mum used to play on the team!"

"Well what happened?" Scorpius demanded incredulously.

"She had kids," Rose replied with a smile on her face. Albus chose to display his utmost displeasure by poking his tongue at her.

"Yo! Al!" James, Albus' older brother, burst into the compartment, followed by his cousins, Fred and Louis Weasley, who were also his best friends. "You should really think about putting on your uniforms, although I see Rosie doesn't need me to tell her that. And just so you know-"

But the rest of James' sentence was cut off by the appearance of a silver stag in the centre of the compartment.

"James, what did you do?" Lucy, Alice and Rose hissed, which James simply ignored. He was too busy staring at his father's Patronus, terrified that he was about to be punished for something he probably did.

"_James,"_ his father's voice said exasperatedly, _"you know very well that just because you _forgot_,"_ they could hear the sarcasm in Harry's voice as he said this, _"to pack your History of Magic books does not mean that you don't have to take the class."_

Now it was James' turn to sigh.

"_I'll be sending Kreacher up to the school with them this evening, just as soon as he arrives back from his date,"_ the two Potter boys made a face – after all, it is a strange thing to think of, their ancient House-Elf _dating_! _"And James,"_ James' head snapped back in the direction of the Patronus, _"I'm also sending the Cloak – for your brother."_ Upon hearing this, the boy began to grumble. _"It's only fair, James. You have the map – I know you do, I'm not as stupid as I look – "_ the girls erupted into fits of laughter, _"so Albus gets the Cloak."_

"Fair's fair, I guess," James muttered, exiting the carriage.

The Patronus laughed. _"Al,"_ the young boy looked up, surprised that the Stag hadn't disappeared yet, _"the Cloak's already in your trunk. Mum sneaked it in for you, since I noticed James looking at the map."_ Al had a huge smile on his face. _"Now, there are some ground rules: use it all you want, just don't get caught."_ Albus' eyes opened wide. He was surely not expecting his dad to say that! _"Oh, and Al … Use it well."_

And the Patronus was gone.

They arrived at Hogsmeade Station not long after dark. Alice and Lucy rushed out of the compartment to find the others, leaving Albus, Rose, and their new friend Scorpius to join the crowd of students on their own.

"FIRS' YEARS! FIRS' YEARS, THIS WAY! FIRS' YEARS! O'ER HERE WITH ME!"

They followed the sound of Hagrid's voice until they finally reached the man himself.

He would have been easily twice as tall as the average man, and probably four times as wide. Scorpius and many of the other First Years stopped in their tracks, as though stuck to the ground, as they took in his appearance. His hair, wild and mattered, stood up in all directions, and his beard, which no one would have cared to touch, looked as though it had bits of everything strewn throughout it.

In a reaction the other First Years would come to admire, Albus and Rose both gave Hagrid a great, big hug. In truth, the two – along with all of their Weasley cousins – had known the half-Giant Hagrid since birth, as their parents were some of his closest friends – and had been since they had attended Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"'Ow you doin', young Albus an' Rose?" Hagrid smiled down at the two of them, returning their hugs.

"All righ'," he continued. "We all 'ere?" Hagrid seemed to take the lack of replies as a confirmation of the required students' presence, as he said, "OK. Le's go, then!"

The fact that they began to walk in to opposite direction to the carriages seemed to confuse most people, including Scorpius.

"Where are we going? Isn't the school that way?" He pointed back towards the carriages, which now would have been easily a couple of hundred yards away.

"Yeah, but we don't use the carriages this time," Albus informed him quietly. "We'll be heading up to the school via the boats, across the Black Lake."

"Isn't there some sort of big creature in there?" someone else asked.

"The Giant Squid lives in the Black Lake, yes," Rose replied matter-of-factly.

"He's nothing to worry about," Albus added. "He's really a gentle creature – as long as you don't set off fireworks in his home like my idiot brother."

"James set off fireworks in the Black Lake?" Rose asked her cousin, hardly believing what she was hearing.

"Yeah, it was his end-of-term prank. Didn't you hear? Mum was ranting on and on about it for weeks. He's lucky she let him back on the train this morning!"

The rest of the conversation was put on hold while Hagrid gave them his instructions.

"Everyone divide into groups of three for the boats. Anyone left over can come with me."

Five minutes later, Albus, Rose and Scorpius found themselves sitting in a little rowboat on the centre of the Black Lake.

"This is _insane_!" Scorpius exclaimed, holding onto the edge of the boat for dear life. "What's even in here?"

"Aside from the Squid, there's many, many other creatures, including a colony of Grindylow and a city of Merpeople," Rose calmly replied.

"Did you read that in some book?" Scorpius, who was quickly becoming accustomed to Rose, asked her.

"_No_!" she replied indignantly. "If you _must_ know, my mother told me."

_Here we go_, Albus thought, sighing.

His fears were, however, put on hold. Rose didn't blow up in Scorpius' face as she usually would; Instead, she proceeded to ignore both of the boys. Apparently, Albus had done the wrong thing by continuing to talk to Scorpius.

After standing nervously in the Entrance Hall for the better part of ten minutes, a familiar face emerged from the Great Hall.

"Good evening," he said, a smile adorning his face, "my name is Professor Longbottom. I am the Herbology teacher here at Hogwarts, and also the Head of Gryffindor House. There are a total of four Houses here at Hogwarts. They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. While you are here, your House is like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points and any rule breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year the House with the most points will win the House Cup," Neville finished his speech, allowing them a moment to digest the information.

"Now, in a couple of minutes we'll enter the Great Hall. I'll call your name, and you'll come forward. I'll place the Sorting Hat on your head and it'll sort you into your house."

Just as he finished saying this, a little boy, dressed in his Sunday best, slipped through the doors and said to Neville, "Professor McGonagall says they're ready for you now."

"Thanks, Frank," Neville replied, patting his head and sending him back inside. "That's Frank, my son," he informed the First Years. "He spends most of his time giving Hagrid a hand, but if you see him 'round, say hello!"

Frank was nine years old, and would be in Lily's year at Hogwarts. Since both of his parents worked full-time, he spent most of his days giving the Hogwarts staff a hand.

"Let's go in, shall we?"

The gathering of students followed Neville into the Great Hall, ooh-ing and ah-ing as they did.

"The ceiling's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History_," Rose was saying to anyone who would listen.

"You are so like your mother," Neville told her. She beamed, as though that were the greatest compliment anyone could ever give her. Albus, on the other hand, wasn't sure that it was.

When the group reached the front of the Great Hall, they stopped and found hundreds of eyes staring at them. As a boy who is already particularly self-conscious already, Albus did not like this at all.

"Ok," Neville picked up a long piece of parchment and readied himself for the sorting to begin, "let's get started, shall we?" Taking a look at the first name on the list, his face broke into a genuine smile. "Rose Weasley."

Albus' cousin walked slowly up to the very front, muttering to herself on her way.

"Is she always like this?" Scorpius asked Al, looking almost worried.

"Nah," Al replied, a smile creeping onto his face. "Usually, if you insult a book – or her reading of that said book – she's much worse."

Nodding his head, Scorpius replied, "Good to know."

As soon as Scorpius had finished speaking, it was evident that the Sorting Hat had made its decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Wonderful, we've got the first one for the season!" Albus could hear James saying from behind him. Rolling his eyes, he pulled a face at Scorpius, who laughed.

By the time Keira Smith and Hayden Roberts were sorted into Hufflepuff, Lucy Jones into Ravenclaw and Jacob Moss into Slytherin, it was Albus' turn to be sorted.

Aware of the eyes burning into the back of his head, Albus walked towards Neville and sat on the stool, staring out into the crowd but not really seeing anybody or anything. He was saved his troubles, however, when the hat slipped over his eyes.

"Ah, yes," he heard the hat say in his head, "yes, very interesting. Yes, a lot like your father – a thirst to prove yourself, and a spectacular amount of potential. But where to put you…"

"I'm happy to go wherever you think is the best for me," Albus whispered, finding himself surprisingly calm as he did.

"Well well well, young Mr Potter. You just showed courage and bravery in the face of your biggest fears. That makes my decision a lot simpler." The hat stopped talking to Albus and announced its decision to the entire Great Hall. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Much to his surprise, Albus found himself feeling incredibly relieved. His family was cheering; he had a wide grin etched upon his face as he joined them at the Gryffindor table.

James was hugging him.

James was choking him.

Now James was being hexed by Victoire for almost killing him.

Albus, however, was not paying attention to any of this; He was too busy watching Scorpius be Sorted.

The hat spent even longer with Scorpius than it had with Albus; It was plain for everybody to see that his friend was terrified.

Seconds later, Scorpius sighed in happiness when the hat yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Albus could already imagine his father's voice in his head: "It looks like the Malfoys really have changed."


	2. Something to Write Lily

**Chapter Two  
>Something to Write Lily<strong>

"Good evening," a lady of many years addressed the student body from the centre of the staff table. "To our First Years, welcome, and to our returning students, welcome back to another year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry." She looked through the Great Hall, scanning through all of the faces. "For those of you who don't yet know me, I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts."

Albus smiled; the Headmistress was just as he remembered her. She was stern, Scottish and almost Grandmotherly.

"We have several changes in staff this year. First of all, I would like to welcome Professor Melrose Alley, who has graciously agreed to take over his Uncle SIberius' post as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." There was a polite round of applause for both Professor Alley and the new Transfiguration teacher, Professor Jacobs. However, there was a roar from the Gryffindor table when the Headmistress announced the next change in staff: "Finally, Professor Dean Thomas, who filled in for Professor Binns last year while the Professor took long-service leave, has agreed to take over the position of History of Magic teacher full time."

Albus could have sworn he saw Professor McGonagall's face break into a small smile.

After the feast, the First Years were shepherded by Albus' cousin Dominique and a boy named Robins, who were the Gryffindor Prefects, up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Girls, your dormitory is up these stairs and to the right; Boys, yours is up this staircase and to the left. Breakfast begins at 7 and finishes 10 minutes before lessons. Professor Longbottom will see you at breakfast tomorrow to hand out your schedules. off to bed!" Robins instructed, watching them walk up the stairs.

"Congratulations, you two!" Dominique exclaimed, hugging both of her cousins. "Now off to bed, or Robins'll have all our heads."

Laughing, Albus followed Scorpius upstairs to the very top dormitory, where some boys they recognised from their Sorting had already claimed their beds.

Thomas Finnigan, whom Albus had already met through family gatherings and such, had claimed the bed to the left of the door; two other boys that introduced themselves as Robert Wilson and Andrew Harrington, had claimed the beds continuing around the room. Albus took the bed on the right-hand side of the door, and Scorpius the remaining bed between his new friend and the boy called Andrew.

"This is weird, isn't it?" Thomas asked Albus, stretching out on top of the covers of his bed. "Being here without mum and dad, I mean."

"Yeah," Albus replied, smiling as he dug out his pyjamas from the trunk at the end of his bed. "But James is here, of course. It's a pity, really. I thought after his last prank, there'd be no way mum would let him back on the train this morning!"

Thomas laughed. "I heard about that! Dad said it was hilarious – dangerous, but hilarious all the same!"

"Was that what happened at the end of term? Something to do with the Squid and the Lake?" Andrew asked.

"Oh yeah!" Robert jumped in. "I read about that in the _Prophet_."

Albus was astounded. "James' prank made it into the _Prophet_?"

"Yeah," Scorpius replied, a smile adorning his face, "second page and everything!"

Rolling his eyes and crawling under his covers, Albus muttered, "He's probably got a cut-out of it hanging up somewhere."

There was a small 'Pop,' followed by a small voice, which replied, "Yes, Master Albus, he does. On the wall above his bed."

"That is so typical." Albus shook his head, then sat up and addressed his family's House-Elf. "Hey, Kreacher. Mum sent you?"

"Yes, Master Albus, Mistress Ginny sent Kreacher to check up on both of her sons. And Master Harry asked Kreacher to congratulate Master Albus on being Sorted into Gryffindor, although he says that he would have been proud even if you were Sorted elsewhere. Good evening," Kreacher inclined his head towards the other boys in the room.

"How's Lily doing?" Albus casually asked, stroking the silvery material of his dad's Invisibility Cloak.

"Ah, Miss Lily is not doing well, Master Albus. She is most upset. Kreacher had to come home early from his date," the House-Elf replied, fluffing his young Master's pillow. "If there is nothing else, Kreacher must be getting home."

"Certainly, Kreacher," Albus smiled and hugged his very first friend. "Thanks, Kreacher. Tell mum I'm fine, and Lily that I'll owl her as soon as I have something interesting to tell her."

With a small nod and a low bow, there was another 'Pop' and Kreacher the House-Elf was gone.

The next morning, Albus and Scorpius awoke early, changing into their brand-new Gryffindor robes and heading down towards the Common Room.

"Morning!" James and Fred yelled, joining the two boys at the bottom of the staircase.

"Will you two keep it down?" Louis demanded, holding his head in his hands.

"Louis had a busy night," Fred explained, deliberately patting Louis quite hard on his cheek. "Turned down by three girls, and made out with two others."

Rolling his eyes while Scorpius' chin hit the floor, Albus turned around to face James, in the pathetic hope that he would provide more stimulating conversation. "I'm surprised to see you up before noon!" he exclaimed, watching his big brother scoff and continue walking. "Kreacher give you a visit last night?"

"Yeah," James replied with a yawn. "He dropped off that _damned_ book! I was _so_ looking forward to not having to go to History of Magic this year! But I guess with Dean teaching, it won't be so bad anymore."

"That's Professor Thomas to you," Professor Longbottom corrected them as he walked out of his office, which was actually a two-bedroom apartment. They were halfway down to the Great Hall now, and it seemed that the Longbottoms would be coming with them.

"I'll see you this evening," Mrs Longbottom said to her husband, kissing his cheek before heading down a different hallway.

"James, would you mind escorting Frank from your Care of Magical Creatures class to Transfiguration this afternoon?"

"No problem, Professor L!" James replied, ruffling young Frank Longbottom's hair. "You gonna hang with us and Hagrid?"

"Yeah! Then tonight, I'm going over to your place with Hugo and Lily for a sleepover!"

James laughed, and then had a realization. "Hey Frank, would you mind, uh…"

"No." was Neville's firm answer to the question James didn't have a chance to finish. "You will not corrupt my son by making him smuggle prank items in and out of Hogwarts."

About a half an hour later, owls began swooping through the open windows and landing in front of their intended recipients.

Rose opened her package and squealed, proclaiming that her dad had bought her that Rune book she had wanted as a congratulations for being Sorted into Gryffindor. Albus, on the other hand, had received a quick note from his dad saying that he was very proud of him and happy that he was exactly where he most desperately wanted to be.

Scorpius, in a reaction different to both of them, simply sat there, staring at his owl.

"Scorpius? Are you ok?" Rose asked, reaching out and touching his arm to bring him out of his trance.

"Wha-? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Still, he continued staring at the letter. "It's just that – well, my dad has sent me a letter."

"Scorpius," he turned his head to face Albus and Rose's older cousin, Victoire. "You need to see what it says."

As he read the letter, his eyes opened wide in shock. Speechless, he passed the letter to Albus, who read over it himself.

_Scorpius, _it read. _You'll probably be surprised to read this, but I am so very proud of you. My son, a Malfoy, in Gryffindor! I told your grandmother this morning and she started crying._

_Scorpius, _the letter continued, _don't be afraid to be who you are. Your surname may be Malfoy, but that doesn't define you. You're not like us. You're more like your mum – determined, brave … This shows we raised you right._

_So make some friends, _it began to conclude, _good ones, not the pathetic ones I made. Introduce yourself to people I never did. Say hello to people every now and then. But learn from my mistakes – you know what they are._

_I'm so proud of you, Son. Love, dad._

"Not what you were expecting, then?"

All Scorpius could manage to do was to shake his head.

At the end of breakfast, Neville walked the length of the Gryffindor table, handing out timetables to students. Currently, Rose was begging to take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

"No, Rose," Neville sighed exasperatedly. "Those subjects are electives and can only be taken by students who are Third Years and above." He tapped his wand to a piece of parchment and handed Rose her schedule. "There you are. Double History of Magic on the third floor – you should enjoy that class."

The three friends made their way to the History of Magic classroom, following the directions of Victoire and Dominique, who wanted to make sure they weren't late to their first Hogwarts class.

When Professor Thomas opened the door, he smiled and welcomed the First Years in. From the state of the classroom, it was immediately evident that this class would not be as boring as everyone had always said it was.

"So," Professor Thomas called the class to attention, "my name is Professor Thomas. Your name is?" He pointed to Scorpius, who took the cue.

"Scorpius Malfoy."

The Professor smiled. "My name is Professor Thomas, and your name is Scorpius Malfoy." He looked at Rose and continued his name game. "My name is Professor Thomas, and your name is Rose Weasley."

He looked at a boy dressed in crisp Slytherin robes.

"Jacob Moss," he told him, reminding Albus of someone who knew very well their place in society – and thought it was much higher than it was.

"My name is Professor Thomas, and your name is Jacob Moss."

After about ten minutes, he had made it around the classroom. "Albus," he nodded his head at the young Mr Potter, who smiled in return. "Well, everybody, welcome to Hogwarts. And more than that; Welcome to History of Magic." He paused, before beginning to tread side to side at the front of the classroom. "Now, when I was at school – yes, when the dragons still ruled the earth," the class laughed, "I sat where you sat. In this very classroom. Falling asleep while Professor Binns drawled on and on about the Giant and Goblin Wars." He paused for a moment, realizing what he had said. "Oops! Nobody tell Professor McGonagall I said that!" Again, the class laughed.

"Now, we will touch on Giant and Goblin Wars, but not until third year-"

Albus snorted, adding, "James," and laughing.

"-Yes, well." The Professor stopped to smile at Albus. "Anyway, this year – and for the majority of your schooling, for there is much to learn about it – we will be focusing on the First and Second Wizarding Wars."

Rose and Albus sat up straighter in their seats. Their parents had mentioned these topics in passing, and they knew that they were somehow involved, but neither they, nor their cousins, knew exactly how.

"Now, I myself lived through the Second Wizardring War – I was here at Hogwarts when it all happened. Lots of your parents' were." As though to prove his point, he began to point out children in the class whose parents had been there with them. "Rose, Albus, Collin, McMillan – your parents were all here. They fought with me. And Scorpius, your dad was here, too."

Scorpius gave a half-hearted smile, not really sure what to do.

"So, we all know there's Memorials and Remembrances and Days of Mourning and Anniversaries each year, so let's see how much you already know about these wars."

Immediately, Rose's hand shot into the air.

"Rose, you remind me of your mother." Rose smiled at this, and took it as her cue to answer the question.

"There was the Battle of Hogwarts."

"Very good, yes. Now, in your sixth year, you'll see some memories from some key people involved in the Battle of Hogwarts – memories from Professors around Hogwarts, people you've never met or even heard of, and also some of your parents." His eyes lingered on Albus as he said this. "Chances are, many of you will learn more about your parents and grandparents and other family members than you ever dreamed of during this course of study."

Albus tentatively raised his hand, knowing very well that the other students were staring at him.

"Yes, Albus."

"Um, my dad told me about this guy once – the one that gave him his scar. I think he said his name was … Voldemort?"

Professor Thomas shivered. "After all these years, I still can't handle hearing his name," the Professor honestly told the class. "Yes, yes, your dad would know quite a bit about him." Dean sighed for a moment, before asking Albus specifically a question. "How much do you know about your dad's scar?"

"Um…" Albus seemed particularly confused. "He said he got it when he was a baby. The night his parents were killed. Voldemort tried to kill him too, but he couldn't."

"Do you know why?"

"Love," Rose instantly replied, saving the incredibly self-conscious Albus from being the centre of attention. "Lily Potter – Uncle Harry's mum – died to save him, and James – his father – to save the both of them. That's why Voldemort couldn't kill him. It's why none of his curses would ever stick; Lily's love lives in Uncle Harry. There's no way Voldemort could have ever seriously hurt him."

"Right you are, Rose," Professor Thomas replied. "Does anyone else know anything about Voldemort?"

"Um, I do." Everyone stared at Scorpius, who had spoken in front of them all for the very first time. "His – Voldemort's – followers were called Death Eaters. They would do a lot of his dirty work. They were people who enjoyed hurting others and killing people."

"Yes, Scorpius. They did." The Professor smiled at the boy and ruffled his hair. "But people change. I know one who did."

Albus knew that even though he and Rose heard it, that comment was for Scorpius and Scorpius alone.

"So, for next lesson," the class groaned as he said this. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But seriously, take out your books, please, we're going to write some things down."

The class grumbled, but did as they were instructed.

"So, Voldemort – Lord Voldemort, also known as You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and the Dark Lord – was a student, just like you and I. He was born the night his mother died, and didn't meet his father until he was much older and murdered not only him, but also his paternal grandparents."

Many of the students faces conveyed looks of extreme shock.

"This isn't a happy story," he informed them sadly. "It goes downhill before it gets any better."

They paused for a moment, and then the lesson continued.

"So, Voldemort was born Tom Marvalo Riddle in an orphanage in London, where he remained except for school terms until he graduated Hogwarts. He quickly gathered both power and followers, and their goal was what we now term Purification: He wanted a world where there were no muggles, and only pureblood wizards. One day – oh, almost 27 years ago now – one of his followers told him about half of a Prophecy…"

"Wow," Scorpius commented as he, Albus and Rose walked out of the History of Magic classroom to enjoy their break. "That was intense."

"That baby in the prophecy – that was my dad, wasn't it?" Albus asked them quietly, already deep in thought.

"Yes, Albus," Rose confirmed, "that baby was Uncle Harry."

_Well_, Albus thought, _at least I now have something to write Lily about_.


	3. The Threat

**Chapter Three  
>The Threat<strong>

By the time dinner rolled around, Rose, Albus and Scorpius had – at the very least – what one would call an interesting day.

In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Alley spoke of the Battle of Hogwarts, explaining that it was one of the most important events in recent History.

"No doubt you've already started learning about the led-up to it in History of Magic." He had been staring at Albus as he said this.

In Potions, Professor Slughorn paid special attention to Albus and Rose, which caused much teasing from the Slytherins. Thankfully, one look from Rose shut them up. At the end of class, they found themselves being invited to one of Professor Slughorn's 'small get togethers.'

Following lunch, they ended up in Greenhouse Three with Professor Longbottom and his assistant, Frank, who had been dropped off by James during the break.

After learning about some of the plants throughout the greenhouse, the Gryffindors traipsed off to Transfiguration, where Professor Jacobs demonstrated several simple transfiguration elements.

Now, they found themselves in the Common Room, killing time until dinner began.

Currently, Rose had her head stuck in one of her textbooks for about the 37th time, Scorpius was writing a letter back to his father, and Albus was reading a discarded _Daily Prophet_. And he was quite confused by what he found.

_Harry Potter, the Chosen One, was yesterday spotted at Platform 9 ¾ with wife Ginny and their three children – James, Albus and Lily._

_Mr Potter, who has been the Head of the Auror Department for well over thirteen years, spent several quiet moments with youngest son Albus, who was heading to Hogwarts for the very first time._

_Our sources say that Harry, who now has two children and numerous nieces and nephews attending Hogwarts, has ordered a tightening of security at the school in wake of last week's Death Eater threat._

"Death Eater threat?" Scorpius asked, panicking. "If the school was threatened by Death Eaters, why is no one worried?"

Rose put her book down, evidently deciding to begin talking to Scorpius again.

"These things have happened before, Scorpius, since the end of the war," she explained. "Every time it does, the Auror Department heightens security and they investigate, eventually apprehending the idiots – they're usually students who don't want to sit their exams, or something ridiculous like that."

"I think this one might be serious," Albus told them, pointing to the window where his dad's owl sat, pecking at the glass. "Moony's here."

Crossing the room quickly, Albus opened the window, allowing Moony to fly in and land on his shoulder. The bird affectionately nibbled Albus' ear as he took the letter, reading it aloud to his friends.

"Al," he read, deciphering his father's hurried scrawl. "_Prophet's_ telling the truth for once … um … threat's real … No time for Patronus … sending Teddy and the new graduates to protect the family-" He stopped speaking, unable to believe what he was reading.

"What?" Scorpius asked impatiently.

But it was Rose's urgent voice that pulled Al out of his trance. "Al? What is it?"

He slowly looked up, with eyes wide as saucepans.

"The threat's been made against us."

Minutes later, after having sprinted through the halls, Albus, Rose and Scorpius found themselves in the Great Hall, yelling for James, Fred, and any other of their cousins they could think of in their panicked state.

"Albus! Rose!" Dominique called back.

"What's going on?" Victoire asked, seeing their worried faces.

"The threat – the threat!" Rose exclaimed to a gathering crowd of Weasley cousins. "It's real!" Seeing she was becoming hysterical, Fred pulled her into a hug.

"Albus, what's going on?" Victoire asked, remaining completely calm – a trait she had inherited from her father.

"Dad sent Moony with a message – he's coming, bringing Teddy and Uncle Ron and-"

"-Albus! James!"

Whispers broke out through the Great Hall, for dinner was now in full swing.

"Dad!" Albus exclaimed, running towards his father.

"Hey Al. Where's your brother?" Harry replied, hugging his son.

"I'm over here, dad," James replied, joining them.

"Uncle Harry, what's going on?" Lucy demanded in a way not unlike her father.

"We're not going to lie to you, and we're not going to not tell you." Harry began, gesturing to Ron, who was hugging his daughter, and Teddy, who had his arms wrapped around Victoire in a wordless embrace. "There's a lot of things you don't know – about the war, our time at Hogwarts…" He paused, looking around the Great Hall. "I haven't been in here since that night," he whispered, taking a deep breath and stepping over the threshold. Being his usual brave self, he smiled at his sons, who tentatively returned the gesture.

"Potter." Professor McGonagall walked over, shock written all over her face. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"It appears our fears were correct, Professor," her expression changed from shock to horror, "the Death Eaters are coming after our children."

The whispers through the Great Hall intensified.

Sitting in Professor McGonagall's office with Aurors outside, Albus finally had the courage to ask what he had wanted to ask for hours now.

"Dad," his voice was quiet, but it was loud enough for the adults to break off their conversation with the Headmistress. "Exactly how involved were you in the war against Voldemort?"

Ron choked, and looked desperately to his brother-in-law, who had frozen the second he heard the name.

"How – how much do you know?" He finally managed to choke out.

"Just what e learned with professor Thomas," Rose whispered.

Harry sat down in the nearest chair and closed his eyes. "I knew this day would come, but I didn't want to have to tell you."

The kids gasped in shock – none of their parents had ever spoken this much about the war before.

"You've got to understand, this was our nightmare, not yours." He looked into the eyes of each of his sons. "That's why we never told you."

"Harry," Ron interrupted, shaking his head. "Only the basics."

Nodding, Albus' dad continued, "What I was a baby – not long after I was born – my parents went into hiding. They told only one other person where they were, but that person betrayed them. To Voldemort." The kids nodded their understanding, all now knowing what Voldemort was and what he did.

"So on Halloween, when I was only one year old, he came to our house, and he killed them." The kids remained silent. "He tried to kill me, too, but he couldn't, because my mother died to save me. The curse rebounded on him, and he was gone. Or so we thought."

"He began finding ways to come back to full power during my Hogwarts years. In my Fourth Year, he succeeded, and came back into his own body. Nobody but Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix believed me."

"At the end of my Fifth Year, the world finally realized what was happening. A year later, he had infiltrated the Ministry. I didn't do my Seventh Year; I was on the run with your Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, hunting things that would help in Voldemort's downfall."

"Then we realized the last thing we needed was here at Hogwarts, so we snuck in. There was a battle – the Battle of Hogwarts. Dean'll teach you the truth about that one – he was there. The whole of Dumbledore's Army was. And the Order. And a lot of family members and students – some who weren't supposed to be, like your mother," he nodded towards his sons.

"It all came to a head in the middle of the Great Hall. He sent a Killing Curse at me and I blocked it. It rebounded, and he died."

The kids were speechless.


	4. Protection

**Chapter Four  
>Protection<strong>

Later that evening, after Albus and his cousins recovered from the shock, they were escorted up to Gryffindor Tower by Harry, Ron, Teddy and the various Aurors.

"Ok, Victoire, we've assigned Teddy to you," Harry informed them. "Ted, remember this is a mission. I want to hear of no snogging in the corridors."

"What about the Common Room?" Victoire, who was not happy about the ban, asked incredulously.

"The corridors," Harry replied sternly, a show of a smile on his face. "Just – remember what you're here for," he added to his Godson, whose hair had gone bright green in embarrassment.

"Dom, you've got Auror Hamilton."

"Liarna!" Dom exclaimed, hugging the former Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

"Molly, we've assigned you Auror Bowman."

Molly smiled politely at her new protector.

"Aurors Doolus and Edwards, you've been assigned to Fred, Louis, James, Roxanne and the Scamander twins – Lorcan and Lysander, they're in Ravenclaw."

The professional troublemakers looked slightly upset.

"If it goes whiz, bang, fizz or pop, I don't want to know. If it causes damage to the school or the other students, put a stop to it. If Peeves gets involved, let me know," he instructed in an undertone, smiling at the group of Third Years.

"Auror Roberts, you're with Alice Longbottom and my niece, Lucy." Lucy quietly shook her Aurors hand and introduced herself.

"As for you three," Harry's attention turned to Albus, Rose and Scorpius, "your Uncle Charlie's got some time off from the dragons in Romania. He'll be arriving in Hogsmeade tomorrow morning."

"Uncle Charlie's the best," Albus told Scorpius as they were climbing into their respective beds. "He works with dragons in Romania."

"I gathered as much," Scorpius replied dejectedly.

"He's great! He'll let us do pranks, show us stuff around the castle, and-" Albus stopped, noticing the quiet. "Scorp?"

"Albus, I've got to tell you something," he said very seriously. "My family wasn't exactly on the same side as your during the war."

"What are you…?"

"Al, my dad – and his dad – were Death Eaters."

Al stuttered for a moment, before he sighed. "Scorpius, my dad's raised me with one simple principle: people are not defined by their families, or their history. Things change – _people_ change. Scorp, your dad was _proud_ of you being in Gryffindor! If that doesn't show he's changed, I don't know what does."

Smiling at each other, both Albus and Scorpius knew that that had been in the speech that defined their friendship.

The next morning, the Weasley extended family awoke to find their Aurors waiting for them downstairs in the Common Room.

"Get a room!" James yelled as he emerged from the boys' staircase only to come face to face with his cousin and God brother, who appeared to be engaged in a vertical wrestling match. He was still muttering about his distaste for him family members' actions when he and his fellow Third Years traipsed off to Transfiguration.

"Uncle Charlie!" Albus exclaimed, sprinting up to Charlie Weasley, who was standing outside the greenhouses with Professor Longbottom and Rose.

"Al!" Charlie hugged his green-eyed nephew. "And you, sir, must be Scorpius." He held his hand out to the blonde boy, who tentatively shook it. "I'm Charlie Weasley, everyone's favourite Uncle!"

It was very clear to Professor Longbottom that they weren't going to get much done this lesson, seeing that next, the students would be undertaking their first flying lesson.

"I remember my first flying lesson," he told them with a smile. "It was, oh, twenty-six years ago now."

The class' eyes were wide with wonder.

"We were using the school's old Comets and Cleansweeps back then, not the Firebolts you lot have today."

Charlie laughed. "I've still got my very first Cleansweep – it's in the broom shed at mum and dad's place," he told Albus and Rose. "I guess today it's be considered an antiquity!"

"Hey – was that the one dad had Lily on over the summer?" Charlie nodded. "Wow," Albus breathed, staring at Charlie. "I'm surprised it still works!"

Charlie laughed. "It was Bill's, originally. Used it in my first flying lesson. It was hilarious: Leonard Townsend – he was Muggleborn, never been on a broom before. He took off, hovered one foot off the ground and promptly fainted."

"In mine, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and I sort of took off, ended up hanging by my robes from one of the statues on the roof of the castle. They ripped, I fell, and Madam Hooch had to take me up to the Hospital Wing. Apparently, while I was there, Professor McGonagall saw Albus' dad flying, catching something, and next thing we all know, he's been named Seeker for the Gryffindor team."

Albus' eyes were wide in shock – his dad had never told him that before.

"But you'll have nothing to worry about," Charlie assured the three children he had been assigned to protect, "the safety precautions are much more advanced now. And anyway, I'll be there."

Unsurprisingly, this simple statement from his favourite Uncle made Albus feel infinitely less scared.


	5. The First Flying Lesson

**Chapter Five  
>The First Flying Lesson<strong>

Immediately after Herbology, Albus, Rose, Scorpius and the majority of their fellow First Years made their way to the small grassy area just outside the Castle. There, they found broomsticks lined up in two lines – one for each of them. And, standing in the middle, was a tall, blonde-haired lady wearing Quidditch robes and holding a whistle.

"Good morning, First Years, and welcome to your first flying lesson," she declared, smiling warmly at the students. "Now, when I blow my whistle, I want each of you to lay one of your hands over the broom laying on the ground beside you and say, 'Up.'" She then stood between the two lines of students and blew her whistle.

"Up," Albus stated firmly, and the broom soared straight up into his hand.

"Up?" Scorpius phrased his command as a question, but it still worked. The broom rose up, and he took hold of it.

Rose was, as per usual, having some difficulties with the broom. She had been attempting to make her broom move for more than ten minutes now, and so far, all she had managed to achieve was getting the broom to roll around on the ground. Naturally, this was causing the two boys to snicker relentlessly at her.

"Shut up," she told them firmly, eyes beginning to narrow.

"Here, Rosie," Charlie walked up, having taken pity on her. "Put your hand over the broom and concentrate really hard on exactly what you want it to do." He looked down at her, and saw her eyes closed in concentration. "That's it. Now say 'up.'"

"Up," Rose said determinedly. Her eyes opened wide in shock when she felt the broom handle make contact with the palm of her hand.

Albus froze. "Rose," he breathed with an air of reverence. "Rose, you did it!"

"I never thought I'd see the day," James was saying at dinner than evening. "Rose Weasley – our little Rosie! She _finally_ rode a broom!"

"Oh shut up, Potter," the young girl retorted, blushing like only a Weasley could.

But their good-natured banter was about to be severely interrupted.

"So," the group looked up, finding themselves looking up at a tall, goon-like Slytherin student, "you're the new Potter wonder-boy."

"Go away, Travers," James snarled, slowly rising out of his seat.

"And why should I, Jamesy?" he asked in a mocking baby voice. "Now sit down. I'm not interested in talking to you." He turned his attention back to Albus. "I'd much rather have a word with the runt of the litter."

He silently scanned his eyes over Albus, who simply glared back at him.

"Ah, you look so much like your stupid father."

Albus stood up very quickly, pointing his wand between the boys eyes. "Nobody insults my dad in front of me."

Travers laughed a little, smiling a horrible smile.

The next thing Albus knew, he was on the floor, clutching his face, while James was yelling at Travers.

"YOU DID _NOT_ JUST PUNCH MY LITTLE BROTHER!"

There was a flash of light, and the two boys were duelling.

"Impedimenta!" Travers yelled, before taking advantage of James' temporarily frozen state to aim a kick at Rose, who slipped under the table just in time.

"Furnunculus!" James yelled, having shaken off the curse.

Travers roared in age, finding his face covered in boils. "Serpensortia!"

A snake reared its head, as though it were going to bite James, but stopped when it heard Albus speaking parseltongue.

"_Hey! Over here!"_

By the time the snake had turned its head, James had caused it to vanish.

"Tarantallegra!" James yelled, looking over at Travers, who was now doing a jig on the spot.

The older boy roared again, activating the counter-curse. It seemed, however, that Travers had had enough. "Avada-"

"DON'T YOU _DARE_ FINISH THAT SPELL, TRAVERS!" Professor McGonagall roared, in the same instant that Albus disarmed him. The teachers, who had been fighting their way through the ring of students surrounding the fight, finally broke through.

"STUPEFY!" Teddy Lupin roared, sprinting towards his God brothers.

Travers, who had been lunging towards James, fell forward, stunned; Albus and Scorpius pulled James out of the way just in time.

"He's out!" Teddy announced, standing up from checking on the attacker. "Albus – James – are you ok?" The two boys nodded silently, staring dumbfounded at Travers' stunned form.

Teddy pulled his two God brothers into a hug. "It's ok. He's not going to be coming anywhere near you anymore."

Immediately after the incident, James, Albus and Teddy found themselves in Professor McGonagall's office, along with Travers, who had four Aurors holding him at bay.

"Just once," the fireplace flashed green, and Albus saw his parents emerge. "Just _once_ I'd like to get through two days of term _without_ being called to the Headmistress' office."

Ginny surveyed the scene around her. "What in the name of Merlin's beard is going on?"

"It appears," Professor McGonagall began, "that Mr Travers over here," she gestured towards the boy surrounded by the Aurors, "is trying very hard to book himself a permanent cell in Azkaban."

Harry's eyes widened. "James," he looked into the eyes of his eldest child, and saw something in his eyes that he'd seen in his own reflection many times before.

"James," he sighed, sitting in a chair opposite his son. "What happened?"

"Well," James began, his face showing an expression of deep concentration. "We were talking about Rose, and how she _finally_ rode a broom," Harry chuckled at this, imagining the teasing congratulations his youngest niece would be in the midst of receiving. "Then Travers started saying things about Al and dad, Al stood up for you and Travers punched him."

"Muggle duelling!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, glaring at the Slytherin student in the corner.

"Then I yelled," Harry smiled slightly, remembering his temper at that age, "and he started firing curses at me. So I duelled him," he shrugged.

"Then he started the incantation for a killing curse," Albus continued the conversation. "Halfway through the teachers fought their way through the crowd, Professor McGonagall screamed, I disarmed him and Teddy stunned him. Scorpius and I pulled James out of the way just in time for Travers to fall."

Harry looked over at the Aurors surrounding Travers. "Take him back to the office, guys."

He looked back to his sons. "You did good," he whispered, hugging them. "Now try not to hurt each other."

"And James," Ginny said seriously, catching her son's attention. "_Try_ not to burn down the school, alright?"


	6. Whiz, Bang, Fizz, Pop

**Chapter Six  
>Whiz, Bang, Fizz, Pop<strong>

Soon, September turned to October, and October to November.

The school had been enjoying the start of the Quidditch season. The Gryffindor team (which consists of six Weasleys and one Potter), captained by Victoire, had been in the lead since the opening match of the season.

In their downtime, James, Fred, Louis and Roxanne were wreaking havoc on the school and driving the teachers – and their mothers – mad. Most notably, they had turned the Slytherin Common Room entirely pink, dyed the feathers of every owl yellow, stolen all of the toilet seats and exchanged all of the Hufflepuff wands for fakes which, when waved, turned into rubber chickens.

Naturally, they'd managed to spend even more time than ever before in detention this year.

Rose, Lucy and Molly – in a startling comparison to their parents – had spent almost every waking moment in the Library, working on things that weren't due until January.

Victoire had been spending a lot of time with Teddy, who was the only Auror left inside the castle since the protection detail had been dramatically scaled down since the capture and subsequent arrest of a suspect.

Alice had been spending a lot of time out on the Quidditch with Albus and Scorpius, honing her flying skills.

But as he stood in the Owlery putting all of this in a letter to Lily, Albus realized what he had heard that morning.

"_This is going to so epic!"_ he had heard Fred say happily to James, who had laughed heartily.

Those words were never good.

"James!" Victoire yelled that fateful Saturday evening, rushing into the Great Hall. "What did you do?" she demanded, shoving her fist in his face.

"Whatever do you mean, dear, dear Victoire?" Albus heard James reply. He looked over and, along with the rest of the students in the vicinity, burst out laughing.

Victoire growled, and, like Rose, her eyes began to narrow. Then, she was yelling in French.

"Let's go," Albus and Rose motioned to Scorpius that they should get moving.

Just as they were about to exit into the Entrance Hall, there was an ear-splitting bang. Assuming someone had been hexed, the three friends turned around, hoping to see James getting a taste of his own medicine. However, they were sadly mistaken.

Everywhere they looked there were fireworks. Giant, magical, glittering fireworks.

Weasley fireworks.

"Oh _no_," Rose moaned, leaning back so a dragon could pass in front of her. "I thought you said they were banned from the fireworks," Rose rounded on Albus.

"I did," he replied calmly. "Apparently they didn't get that memo."

Scorpius was crouched down on the floor, swatting three Catherine wheels away.

"No!" Albus exclaimed, grabbing his arms and pulling him away.

"Why not?" the blonde boy asked, frowning.

"Ah Scorpius, my dear brother's best friend," James began, throwing his arm around Scorpius' shoulder, who promptly shrugged it off.

"The more you swat, the worse they get!" Fred finished, laughing. He gestured to Mr Filch, who only moments ago had been swatting ten fireworks with his broom. He was now surrounded by at least thirty.

"Go. Go." Rose pushed the two boys out of the Great Hall and up to the Common Room, which was (at least for the moment) fireworks-free.

"Teddy – he charmed my hair red! He said he put it on me to make me – and I quote: 'a _real_ Weasley!'" Victoire was yelling in the Common Room.

James and his three cousins had been in the Headmistress' office for well over three hours now, which meant either something was damaged or their parents had been called.

"Neither, dear cousin," Roxanne said, walking through the portrait hole and hearing Rose explaining this to Scorpius.

"We've pulled the prank of all pranks," Louis continued, following in behind her. "James and Fred were the master minds. They're in so much more trouble than we are. McGonagall's about to kill them, I reckon."

"Where's James?" Victoire rounded on them from the other side of the Common Room.

"McGonagall's office," Louis replied. "And if you'd calm down for long enough, you'd find that it was actually Fred who charmed, your hair," Victoire growled, "_and_ that I know the counter-charm."

He offered nothing more.

"Well?" she demanded. He did nothing.

"You might get a bit further if you said please," Teddy told her, calmly taking her hand.

"Please?" she managed to struggle out.

Louis pretended to think for a moment. "It's sarcastic, but I'll take it."

At breakfast on Sunday morning, they found out exactly how far the prank had gone. The teachers – those who had decided to leave their offices – were sitting at the Staff Table, scratching away.

"Forty-eight hour itching salt," Fred explained quietly. "Our own invention."

"So _that's_ what they were working on all summer," Albus breathed. "We all thought they just had a rash the whole time. Anyway, Mum's going to _kill_ him…"

And sure enough, then minutes later, Albus' prediction came true.

"James…" Albus tried to get his brother's attention. "James-"

"-What?" he spun around in his seat.

"There's a red envelope heading towards you."

James paled. "Oh no."


	7. The Howler

**Chapter Seven  
>The Howler<strong>

James stared at the red envelope carried by his dad's owl Moony, eyes opened wide as saucepans. The owl landed directly in front of his bowl of cereal, holding out his leg and staring with apologetic eyes.

"James, open it," Teddy instructed.

"No," James replied, staring at the envelope, which was now beginning to smoke along the edges.

"James, open the envelope. It'll only be worse if you don't," Fred pleaded, rising from his seat and slowly backing towards the Ravenclaw table.

Silently, James took the menacing envelope and opened it with shaking hands.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" his mother's voice roared. "YOU ARE IN **SO** MUCH TROUBLE!"

James was quivering in his seat.

"AND YOU TOO, FRED FABIAN WEASLEY! I WOULD BE EXPECTING ONE OF THESE FROM YOUR MOTHER, IF I WERE YOU!"

Albus had to use all the willpower in his possession to stifle a laugh. It wasn't often that he got to see the panic-stricken look currently adorning his brother and cousin's faces – but it was so worth it when he did.

"FIRST, YOU CHARM VICTOIRE'S HAIR RED – AND I AM VERY AWARE THAT LOUIS WAS INVOLVED IN THAT, BY THE WAY – THEN YOU SET OFF YOUR UNCLE'S FIREWORKS. MR FILCH HAD TO BE SENT TO ST MUNGO'S. ST MUNGO'S!"

A few of the other regular troublemakers were smiling now – Filch had only got worse in his old age.

"I TOLD GEORGE NOT TO LEAVE YOU TWO ALONE IN THE BACK ROOM. AND NOW LOOK WHAT'S HAPENNED! I'VE NEVER SEEN MCGONAGALL SO FURIOUS. ITCHING SALT!"

To Albus' delight, the rant continued for a full five minutes and had both the major troublemakers quivering in their seats.

"IF YOU HAVE A SINGLE HAIR OUT OF LINE FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR, DAD AND I WILL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!" The howler sighed and turned to Albus, continuing in a much kinder tone. "Al, do us a favour and try to keep the idiot in line, okay?"

While Albus was busy nodding, the howler exploded in James' face.

"So Pennington," Albus saw James saying to a pretty girl in third year that evening, "what did you think?"

"Of what?" the girl scoffed. "Your howler? Please, Potter, your pranks are juvenile and stupid. Though I thought having the whole school listen to your mother yelling at you was a **very** nice touch." James feigned looking hurt and opened his mouth so say something, but she cut him off. "For the last time," she continued exasperatedly, "**no** I will **not** go out with you. I'm **not interested**!"

"Nice try, mate," Fred said sadly, patting James on the back as they walked away. "You'll get her next time."

The girl named Pennington simply rolled her eyes.


	8. Attacked

**Chapter Eight  
>Attacked<strong>

Before long it was December, and the students of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry found themselves anticipating the holiday season, for Christmas was fast approaching.

"It's our turn to host Christmas this year," Albus was telling Scorpius. "All the cousins will floo over on Christmas Eve, and Teddy and Victoire watch us for the evening while our parents go to some fancy ball Kingsley doesn't give them a choice about going to," Scorpius raised his eyebrows at his best friend's casual reference to the Minister for Magic. "Friend of the family, Order of the Phoenix," Albus brushed it off. "Anyway, Christmas with the Weasleys is awesome," he continued.

"We're bringing the gnome for the top of the tree," Rose informed Albus, not even looking up from her book.

"How you can read on a moving train without being sick I will never understand," Scorpius muttered, knowing very well that Rose could still hear him quite clearly, seeing as they had once again managed to find their very own compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

Wanting to avoid a fight before they arrived at Platform 9 ¾, Albus jumped in and changed the subject. "So Scorpius, what does your family do for Christmas?"

Scorpius thought for a moment. "We have a quiet family day. My grandmother comes over in the morning, and she and my father go to visit my grandfather, so my mother and I go out for brunch." Albus and Rose knew that Scorpius' grandfather, Lucius Malfoy, had been imprisoned for life in Azkaban Prison, following a trial at the end of the war in which their parents testified. But never before had they heard him talk – even so indirectly – about the fact that his grandfather was in wizard prison. "Then that evening we have a small dinner, just the four of us."

"Well you have to come with us on Christmas Eve," Rose burst out suddenly, blushing when she realized she had said it out loud. "I mean, everyone's there. Kreacher helps us make whatever we want for lunch and dinner-"

"-Yeah, he's brave enough to let us in the kitchen and cook. He's a brave elf," Albus interrupted, speaking really quickly so he could be heard between Rose's thoughts.

"… Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny take us flying, and then when we get back Grandma and Grandpa Weasley are there, and they all go off to Kingsley's ball and we're left with Teddy and Victoire in charge, and we usually end up going to see a muggle movie. It's the best," she finished her rambling.

"Scorp, you should so come with us," Albus added, saving the three of them from a slightly awkward situation. "My parents'd be cool with it."

"I'll have to speak to my mother and father," Scorpius replied quietly. "Anyway, I doubt my father would let me," he muttered, this time completely unaware that Albus could still hear him.

It was later afternoon when the Hogwarts Express pulled into King's Cross Station. The three first years took hold of their trunks and their owls and hurried and best they could towards the very crowded doors leading to Platform 9 ¾.

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed, spotting her mother at the very front of the crowd. "Aunt Ginny!"

Albus' heart sank. He had desperately wanted his father to be there and greet him when he stepped onto the platform. Harry had, in fact, written him a letter and promised to do his best to be there to greet him. But that wasn't why Albus wanted him to be there: More than anything, he had wanted his father to meet his very best friend.

"Hey mum," he greeted his mother, who smiled sadly and hugged him tightly.

"He was going to come," she whispered to him. "We were about to leave when he got an urgent patronus from Kingsley." Letting him go, she turned to the blonde boy standing beside him. "You must be Scorpius," she held out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Ginny Potter, Al's mum. It's nice to finally meet you."

"You as well, Mrs Potter," Scorpius replied politely.

"And I'm Hermione Weasley, Rose's mum," Hermione added. "Have your found your parents yet?"

"No," came his reply, "but I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"Scorpius!" They heard someone call from further down the platform. "There you are!" a kind looking witch with light brown hair exclaimed, wrapping him in a hug.

"Hi mum," he returned her hug. "This is Mrs Potter and Mrs Weasley, and my friends Albus and Rose," he introduced them. "These are my parents, Astoria and Draco Malfoy."

Mrs Malfoy smiled warmly and greeted the mothers, while Draco nodded curtly, eyeing Albus and noticing how much he really did look like his father.

"I've invited Scorp to Christmas Eve," Albus told Ginny, who smiled.

"You should join to cousins and stay the night, Scorpius. In fact, why don't you all join us for Christmas?" she suggested to Astoria. The three friends looked at each other with eyes lit up and the widest grins on their faces. It really was as though Christmas had come early.

"Thank you very much for the invitation, W – Ginny, but-"

The rest of Draco's sentence was cut off by an ear-splitting bang. Mr Malfoy screamed, falling to the ground and clutching his left forearm.

"Dad!" Scorpius yelled, rushing towards him, but being pushed back by his mother.

"Everybody down!" Hermione yelled, handing Rose her handbag and drawing her wand.

"What's going on?" a terrified Rose asked the two boys, who were crouching slightly in front of her in a protective stance.

"Draco? Draco?" Astoria was saying, obviously terrified. "Draco, what's going on?"

From the other end of the platform, they heard another scream. Whipping their heads around to look, the three first years almost screamed themselves. Walking along the platform were about ten men in black robes and masks, chanting words they could not quite make out. Suspended in mid air above the man in front was Albus and Rose's cousin Victoire, screaming in terror.

"Oh my God," Rose faintly said, burying her head in Scorpius' shoulder and holding on to both boys for support.

When they reached the centre of the platform the men stopped walking and chanting, causing an eerie silence to fall over the platform, disturbed only by Victoire's screams.

"Shut up, you stupid girl!" the man yelled, flicking his wand and laughing as she dropped ten feet to the floor. "I'm not here for you, anyway." The man turned around slowly, scanning the people. When he saw the group closest to the train, Albus saw his lips turn up into a sickening smile. Slowly, he walked over to them, stopping several feet in front of his Aunt and mother. "Remember me?" he asked, bringing his hand to his face and removing his mask. Hermione froze, and Ginny gasped. "I thought you might," he continued, laughing a chilling laugh once more.

He took another step closer to Ginny, and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by someone who had just stepped through the barrier. "Get the hell away from my wife," Harry stated, not showing any surprise at the scene unfolding before him.

"Ah," the man's smile faded as he turned to face Harry, "the Chosen One returns." Albus and Scorpius exchanged a slightly confused look. Why would this man be concerned with what Albus' dad had done nearly twenty years ago?

"Pity you weren't here a few minutes ago, Potter," the stranger continued. "I was having some fun with your niece over there." Albus looked over and saw both Teddy and his Uncle Ron crouching down beside Victoire, quietly making sure she was alright. "But that's not what I'm here for," he concluded, taking a step away from Ginny.

"Then what are you here for, Rodolphus?" Draco asked, now pulling himself up off the floor.

'Rodolphus?' Albus mouthed to Scorpius, who shrugged.

'No idea.' he mouthed back.

"Ah, if it isn't my favourite nephew, the traitor," Rodolphus sneered, rounding on Draco. "How dare you abandon the Dark Lord-"

"-'Abandon the Dark Lord'?" Draco quoted back. "I didn't abandon the Dark Lord, I found what was right."

"You're weak," Rodolphus countered, glaring at Draco who glared right back.

"No," Draco continued, keeping Rodolphus occupied while Harry and Ron silently sent stunning spells at the other nine masked men, "I'm not weak. I have a conscience."

"Ha!" Rodolphus scoffed, turning around as though he were about the insult Draco to his followers. "What the - ?" Just as Harry was about to stun him, he turned on the spot and vanished with a tiny pop.

"Damn it!" Harry shouted, allowing the other Aurors who had just arrived to round up the stunned men on the ground.

"Harry," Ginny rushed over, calming him down. "Nobody got hurt, it's ok. We'll get him next time."

"Yeah," Ron continued. "Now that we know who it is we're trying to catch, we can work our arses off to catch him."

"Uncle Ron, this isn't a revenge mission," Teddy jumped in, brining Victoire over with him.

"Uh, it will be if I get my hands on him," Bill growled, joining them with his other two kids in tow.

"Dad," Scorpius began asking back beside the train. "Dad, who was that man?"

"That," Draco answered, "was my dear uncle, Rodolphus. Your grandmother's late sister's husband."

Scorpius took a moment to process the information, before nodding slowly and sitting down next to the train.

"The real question is, what was he doing here?" Astoria asked. "And why were they dressed up like Death Eaters?" Subconsciously, as he listened to his wife's words, Draco was rubbing his left forearm.

Once everyone was calmed down and assured everything was ok, the rest of the platform dispersed and the original group by the train, now joined by Harry and Ron, came back together.

"What was it you were saying about Christmas?" Ginny asked Draco, who smiled.

"I was saying that we would love to come."

It was a stark comparison to the events of five minutes ago.


	9. Christmas Eve

**Chapter Nine  
>The Day Before Christmas<strong>

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way," Lily sang on the morning of Christmas Eve, running down the hall of their family home in Godric's Hollow.

Albus groaned, rolling over in his bed. He and James had been home for four days now, which he knew his sister had thoroughly enjoyed.

"Urgh! Go back to sleep, Lily. It's only seven-thirty!" he heard James yell from his bedroom further up the corridor.

"Hugo and Rosie are coming at eight!" the energetic nine-year-old replied, opening Albus' bedroom door. "And Scorpius at eight-thirty!"

As he rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head, he heard his sister slam the door closed.

"James! James!" Ginny yelled half an hour later, just as Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo arrived through the floo network. "James Sirius, get your arse out of bed this instant! Rose and Hugo are here!"

"Ginny! Are you ready for tonight?" Hermione asked, kissing Hugo's head before watching him run off towards the living room with Lily.

"No," Albus' mother replied, wiping down her kitchen bench for the hundredth time that morning, "I need to go out this morning to get some new shoes. Lily decided yesterday would be a brilliant time to run around in the ones I had."

"Can't you just repair them?" Ron asked her, shoving a piece of toast into his mouth. The women rolled their eyes at his ignorance.

"I've tried, Ronald," Ginny replied exasperatedly, "they won't respond to it."

"Probably a bit of accidental magic on Lily's part," Hermione sighed, looking longingly over at her son.

"Still nothing?" Ginny asked, also looking over at Hugo.

"Nothing," her sister-in-law replied wistfully.

"Don't worry about it, Hermione," Harry said, walking into the kitchen and kissing Ginny's cheek. "Just think of Grace Pennington – she's in James' year."

"The object of James' affections," Ginny interjected. "Much like his grandfather's obsession with Lily, Hagrid says."

"That poor girl," Harry muttered with a smile. "Imagine having James chasing after you every day of the week!"

"It's bad enough having him as a brother," Albus whined. "I feel sorry for the poor girl," he continued. "She can't stand him."

"Sounds _exactly_ like my mum and dad," Harry laughed, watching Albus wash his cereal bowl out in the sink. "Anyway, you've nothing to worry about with Hugo. Grace's powers didn't show until she was twelve."

"We were turning rats into teacups," James yawned, stumbling into the kitchen still wearing his pyjamas. "She just did it. Perfectly, I might add." He rolled his eyes, swiping the last piece of toast just before Ron's hand reached it.

"Pennington … Pennington…" Ron muttered absentmindedly, glaring at his nephew, who was happily eating the toast. "Pennington as in Josef Pennington? the Vampire who works in the Department of Magical Games and Sports?"

"The very same," Ginny confirmed, smiling.

"Do you remember when Remus and Tonks first married?" Hermione asked, a sad smile adorning her features. "A Werewolf marrying a Witch was the biggest scandal of the day – aside from our being on the run, of course. And when they had Teddy…" she paused, remembering. "It's amazing how Grace and the Pennington's are accepted today. And it's all because of them."

The four adults paused for a moment, as though only realizing this truth for the very first time.

It was then that the fireplace flashed green and another person joined them – promptly falling over and crushing a chair.

"Oh damn," her muttered, brining himself to his feet. "Reparo." The chair magically fixed itself.

"Ah, Teddy," Harry chuckled, clapping his God son on the back as a welcome. "Some things will never change."

"Yeah, Ted," James commented. "You've been breaking the same chair since you were eight!"

"Shut it, you," Teddy smiled, ruffling the older Potter child's hair. "Is Vic here yet?" he asked in what he hoped was a casual tone. This would, after all, be the first family gathering since James revealed their relationship to the entirety of the family at Platform 9 ¾.

"No, your girlfriend's not here yet," Harry, who knew exactly how Teddy was feeling, having been through it himself many years before, replied.

Teddy spluttered for a moment, but was saved from having to make any sort of a reply by the arrival of Percy and Audrey through the fireplace.

"Morning!" Percy called, walking around the kitchen table. He stopped in his tracks, however, when he saw Ginny leading the Malfoys into the kitchen.

"Morning Percy," Harry replied pointedly, as though urging his brother-in-law to behave normally without actually saying so.

"Mrs Malfoy? I'm Audrey Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you," Audrey introduced herself.

"Astoria," Mrs Malfoy replied. "And it's lovely to meet you, too. This is my husband, Draco, and our son, Scorpius."

There was a pop outside the kitchen window, and greetings yelled inside.

"Happy Christmas Eve!"

"THE WEASLEY TWINS HAVE ARRIVED!" Fred and Roxanne announced, running through the kitchen door.

"Hey look here, brother of mine," Roxanne nudged her brother, "young Scorpius appears to be joining us!"

"Ah, yes, dear sister, it certainly does appear that way."

Before anything more could be said, they heard a shout from the next room.

"Oi! Teddy! Your girlfriend's here!"

"Girlfriend? What's he talking about, Dominique?" Bill rounded on his daughter, at the same time Victoire and Teddy yelled, "James!" for it appeared he had managed to inform everyone **but** his Uncle Bill.

"Wha-?" Bill stumbled across his words, turning towards his oldest daughter. "You? You and – you and … You?"

"Bill…" Fleur lay her arm on her husband's shoulder. "Would you prefer a boy you do not know?"

"Yeah, Bill," George piped up. "It's not like they're planning on marrying, or something." He turned to look at the two, and saw them catching each other's eye then staring, terrified, at Bill.

"So, let's not listen to George, because if this conversation goes any further someone's going to end up in St Mungo's on Christmas," Angelina jumped in, helping Fleur to steer Bill towards the kitchen, where Harry and Ron had pulled out the Butterbeer.

"One time!" Teddy exclaimed exasperatedly, remembering the previous Christmas when he fell off a broom and broke six bones.

"Al! Scorp! Come on, the Christmas specials are starting on TV!" Rose yelled from the living room.

"'Christmas specials'?" Scorpius asked, terribly confused. "TV?"

"It's a muggle contraption," Albus explained as they walked. "Television. They show moving pictures – like storybooks come to life. Today, they're Christmas themed!"

Still confused, Scorpius joined Albus and the rest of his family in the living room, facing the strange muggle contraption showing some terribly odd moving pictures.

Not long before lunch, while they were still watching the Christmas specials, the group of witches and wizards heard a commotion from the kitchen.

"Urgh! Get off me you slimy git!" A man's voice exclaimed.

"Get out of my way," A low, drawling voice replied.

"**I'm** not the one who came sprinting in here, was I?" The first man continued.

"You pathetic toerag-" A third voice interjected.

"-Watch it, you lot. We don't want to disrupt the Christmas Eve proceedings-" A female voice interrupted the argument.

"-No one cares, Lily," the three male voices, plus a fourth, new voice, stated in unison.

Scorpius looked around to Rose and Albus, clearly terrified.

"Looks like the portraits are back from the Longbottom's," Albus said happily, standing up and gesturing to the kitchen door. "Shall we?" He asked his two best friends, who followed him through.

"What's going on?" Scorpius muttered to Rose, who simply shook her head.

"Do they **ever** stop fighting?" she asked Albus, who laughed.

"Dad had to move their portraits to opposite ends of the house after James and I left for school," he explained. "Apparently Sirius got sick of Severus' 'drawling voice,' or something like that."

"Can you blame me?" asked one of the portraits on the wall. He had long black hair, and prison tattoos on his body. "When all you hear is the drawl all day, every day-"

"-Sirius," Another portrait, a lady with fiery red hair, said in a warning tone.

"-Shh, Lily. I'm complaining to Albus," the man, Sirius, shushed her. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah! The drawling voice. All day, every day, and he never shuts up. Always going on and on about something or other – ow! Lily! What was that for?"

"Sirius, behave yourself," said a man with sandy brown hair, who had just walked through the side of the portrait with a lady who had astonishingly bubblegum pink hair, "we have visitors." Sirius laughed a dog-like bark.

"Since when has that ever stopped him, Moony?" I man who looked startlingly like Albus, James and Harry said to the man with sandy brown hair.

"Don't push him, James," the ladies with the bubblegum pink and fiery red hair said in unison.

"And why not?" James and Sirius asked them.

"It's full moon tomorrow," the pink-haired lady answered.

"We're portraits!" Sirius exclaimed. "It's not like he can hurt us!"

"And if there's a problem, we'll just transform," James continued. "See?" Seconds later, a Stag stood in his place.

"Show off," Albus muttered, attracting their attention. "Dad said if there's one more fight you'll all be confined to your own portraits, remember?" Albus reminded them, trying his best to look stern. "And just because you're portraits does not mean a fellow portrait Werewolf can't hurt you." Scorpius recoiled in horror. "No, no, it's fine," Albus assured him, calming him down. "Dad forgot to confine him to his own portrait once, and we woke up the next morning to find Sirius ripped in half. It was simple to repair him, took dad all of two seconds."

"In Remus' defence, that idiot," the fiery haired woman gestured to Sirius, "was taunting him."

"I was not!" Sirius tried to retort, but was ignored by everybody.

"Anyway," the woman continued, "I'm Lily Potter, Albus' grandmother. You must be Scorpius. We've heard so much about you."

"Scorpius, eh?" James peered around his wife's shoulder. "The Malfoy kid?"

"James!" Lily scolded him. "I'm so sorry, pay no attention to my husband. He's … set in his opinions," she chose her words diplomatically.

"Ah," Scorpius replied, slightly shocked. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Mrs Potter. Mr Potter."

"And I'm Sirius, Albus' Grand-Godfather!" he announced.

Scorpius looked to Albus, terribly confused. "Sirius is my dad's Godfather," he explained. "And this here is Remus and Tonks – Teddy's parents. And – oh! Mr and Mrs Longbottom! What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Albus, dear," Neville Longbottom's late mother greeted him kindly. "Frank was wondering if you had that Quidditch book for him to borrow?"

"Yeah, it's upstairs in my trunk. I can see if dad'll let me drop it to your place this afternoon," Albus replied, smiling.

"Thank you, dear!" Mr and Mrs Longbottom walked through the side of the portrait and were gone.

"Hey – where's Severus?" Albus asked the portraits, most of whom shrugged.

"I think he left for his portrait in your room," Lily explained quietly.

"Who's Severus?" Scorpius asked, noticing Rose talking to Remus about her mother's Werewolf rights legislation.

"Severus is Albus' other namesake," another voice said from behind them. The two boys turned around, only to find themselves face to face with Albus' dad. "And Al's right, you lot. One more fight and that's it. You're driving Ginny up the wall!"

James and Sirius began to argue with him, but no one paid them any more attention.


	10. Twas the Night Before Christmas

**Chapter Ten  
>'Twas the Night Before Christmas<strong>

"Severus is … not like the others," Albus explained to Scorpius as they climbed the stairs leading to his bedroom. "But he's the best." Albus smiled, and opened the door on the immediate right of the landing. "There you are, Severus," he happily greeted the hook-nosed, greasy haired man in the portrait above the desk. "Lily said we'd find you up here. I'd like to formally introduce you to my best friend, Scorpius Malfoy."

The portrait's eyebrows shot up, obviously not believing what he was hearing. "I thought your father was kidding."

"Nah, Snivellus," Severus jumped, turning wildly to face Sirius, who had just walked into the portrait. Before anyone could register what was going on, the two men had begun their argument again.

"Dad!" Albus leaned out of his doorway, yelling down the stairs. "Sirius is in my room again!"

Even though he was standing a floor above, Albus distinctly heard his father say, "I cannot **believe** I am raising portraits."

By the time their mothers arrived home from shopping, James and Fred had been pacing around the living room dressed for Quidditch and holding their brooms for well over an hour, much to the enjoyment of the remainder of their family members.

"I'm sorry, I'm on my way, you guys go out and warm up," Ginny said to her Quidditch-obsessed son and nephew. "I'll meet you out there!" she called as she began to climb the stairs.

The two boys cheered and led the group of Weasley cousins and Scorpius out to the large backyard, where they were allowed to play Quidditch – one of the upsides to living in a Wizarding village.

"Look Al! Uncle Charlie gave me my own broom!" Lily exclaimed, shoving a very well-used broomstick in her older brother's face.

"Whoa," Albus said, gingerly taking the broom in his hands. "This thing's an antique!"

"Certainly is," Harry confirmed, turning to his other son, "so **don't** break it!"

"It's not even mine!" James protested. "Why would I go anywhere near it?"

"You give it one more scratch than it already has and you'll never see the inside of George's shop again," Ginny informed him matter-of-factly, walking past tot eh back gate, where she took off on her broom and did several lap around the fence line as a warm up.

"I forgot – your mum played professionally, didn't she?" Scorpius asked Albus, who simply nodded.

"Played Chaser for the Harpies from her Hogwarts graduation until just before she had James," Albus confirmed offhandedly. "Dad played Seeker when he was at school, too. They taught us to play when we were about Lily's age."

"James!" Ginny called from above the roof. "Grace Pennington's here!"

Albus had never seen his brother move so quickly on land in his life.

"I really do feel sorry for her," Harry told him, before he kicked off and joined his wife far above in the sky.

"Pennington! Why have you never tried out for the team?" Victoire demanded later that evening. "You're really good!"

"Oh. Thanks," the blonde shrugged off the compliment. "But I only play for fun."

"Yeah, but I've **never** seen **anyone** rival Al and Harry as Seekers. Flying's in their blood!" Teddy exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, it's in mine, too." Everyone gave her strange looks. "My dad's a vampire?" she phrased her explanation as a question.

"Oh, right, because he can turn into a bat and … stuff," James idiotically said out loud.

Grace threw him a dirty look.

"Do you actually pay attention in any of your classes?" Dominique asked James rather rudely.

"That's a stupid question," Grace replied without missing a beat. "Of course he doesn't. And no, Potter, a vampire turning into a bat is a myth made up by muggles and supported by wizards who couldn't care less about the truth. Vampires are **fast**."

Needless to say, James was speechless.

As the adults prepared to leave for the Ministry's annual Christmas Ball, all hell broke loose.

"I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT!" Ginny yelled at James, who looked as though he were just about ready to yell back. "I'M ENDING IT! KINGSLEY TOLD YOU LAST TIME, YOU'VE HAD THREE LETTERS ALREADY! ONE MORE AND HE'LL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SNAP YOUR WAND!"

"But mum – IT WASN'T ME!" James yelled back before his mother had a chance to interrupt him again.

"Then who was it?" Harry asked him calmly, stepping in before either party had the chance to completely destroy the house.

James stood still for a moment while Hugo looked at Harry innocently.

"Should I not have done that?" All eyes were now on Ron and Hermione's red haired, blue eyed son.

"…That was you?" Ron asked tentatively, crouching down to the height of his nine-year-old.

"But – but how?" Hermione, who was never know to be speechless, asked, dumbfounded.

"I levitate things all the time, mummy," he replied sweetly, staring at his mother with his father's blue eyes. "Especially my bed. It's lots of fun – like riding a broomstick, only better!"

The room was silent for a moment, before Ron scooped Hugo up and spun him around in circles. "I'm so proud of you!" he exclaimed. "My boy can do magic!"

"So I'm not in trouble?" Hugo clarified, looking worriedly from his mother to his father. "It's only, Aunt Ginny was yelling at James and-"

"-Of course you're not in trouble!" Ron cut him off, now ridiculously happy.

"Well, he did levitate the house…"

"Oh, come off it, Hermione! He's doing accidental magic!"

"And he's conscious of it! Which means he's not doing accidental magic by accident. He's doing accidental magic on purpose!"

"Hermione, listen to yourself! 'Accidental magic on purpose'? It's a contradiction of terms!"

"Leaning over to Albus, Scorpius asked quietly, "Are they always like this?"

Al smiled, and replied quietly, "After twenty-six years, everybody's used to it."

"Frankly, I'm surprised he knows a big word like contradiction **and** knows what it means," James pitched in his two cents, then ducked in order to narrowly avoid receiving a slap on the back of the head from his mother.

"You forgot 'used it in context,'" Harry added, not moving quickly enough to avoid being slapped on the arm by Ginny.

"**Don't** encourage him!"

"No, no, no, Master James! Do not add the salt to your Treacle Tart!"

It had been about an hour since the adults had left, leaving Teddy, Victoire and, ultimately, Kreacher in charge.

"Pace yourself, Master Hugo!" the ageing elf squeaked, running across the kitchen and removing a sandwich – which would have been Hugo's fifth in ten minutes – from the boy's hands. "So like your father you are," the elf sighed, leading Hugo to sit at the table. "Stop now, Miss Lily, or your dish will be too full," he advised Lily, who was making a pasta dish accompanied by various vegetables.

"Lily, the one day of the year you can have anything you want, you choose **vegetables**?" Roxanne asked, disbelief written all over her face. "Unbelievable," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Miss Lily is a good girl who always eats her vegetables," Kreacher defused the argument before it began. "It happens every year, Master Malfoy, but Kreacher has learned to always step in before two Weasley girls begin to fight," he quietly informed Albus and Scorpius, who looked at each other and laughed.

"So Ted," James asked in a very casual tone, "are you coming back to Hogwarts after the holidays?"

"Uh – no," Teddy replied very cautiously, having only approached the sore subject with Victoire before the Quidditch match that afternoon. "No, James, I'll be heading back to the Ministry. The Auror Department needs all hands on deck now that we know who it is we're needing to catch."

Albus had always loved the way Teddy phrased things. He never left anything out or talked down the danger, but he used words and analogies that always made things sound less scary than they actually are. Like the time he explained to Albus where his own parents really were.

Instead of saying, '[insert object here] went on holiday,' the way most five-year-olds are introduced to the concept of death, the then thirteen-year-old Teddy explained that his parents had died in battle, helping to save the world. He had said that they were in a happy place, watching over him and the rest of the family. But then, he had shared something his godfather's godfather, Sirius Black, had once told him: "The ones we love never truly leave us. You can always find them in here." And he pointed to Albus' heart.

"What do you mean you knew they were coming, Harry? If you knew, why didn't you tell me?" Albus heard his parents shouting when they arrived home past midnight.

"About two seconds before we were ambushed, I had a feeling something wasn't going to go right, Ginny. A feeling I haven't had in nineteen years!" Harry sighed, exasperated.

"Mum?" James questioned, walking past Albus' bedroom, which tonight also held a camp bed for Scorpius, and heading down the stairs. "Dad?" As they made their way into the hallway, the two boys found Hugo to be the only one not awoken by the noise. "What's going on?"

The two adults looked at each other, and sighed. Harry sat down in his favourite squishy armchair, while Ginny engulfed her youngest child in a warm, comforting hug.

"Rodolphus-" Harry began, but was cut off by Ginny.

"-No."

"Ginny, I've been through this myself. When I was their age! And, believe me, it concerns them, too."

"No."

"When do we stop treating them like children, then? Like they don't know what's going on?"

"Harry, they **are** children."

"No," he disagreed, looking straight into her eyes. "No. The second this threat was made, they were thrown into our world – into our old nightmare. They may still be young, but we cannot treat them like children anymore."

"Harry, some of them are not even **eleven**!"

"But they're just like us, Ginny," he sighed, smiling sadly at the children. "They'll find out anyway."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. But it can wait 'till morning. When all the appropriate parties are here."


	11. Explanations

**Chapter Eleven  
>Explanations<strong>

"I've never seen a Christmas morning this sombre," Fred said quietly to Albus, Rose and Scorpius. "Ever."

"It's something we've never experienced before," Dominique elaborated. "Like there's something we've been missing."

"They're going to tell us something they've never told any of us before," Rose concluded, just as Draco, Astoria and Narcissa – the last to arrive – walked out of the fireplace. "Something they've never told anyone."

Once everyone had arrived, they moved into the living room, where they knew the adults would sit them down and explain everything.

"Harry," Albus' grandfather, Arthur, began to ask of his father, "do we really have to do this on Christmas?"

"Arthur," his wife, Albus' grandmother Molly, lay her hand on his, "they need to know. The fight's for them, now."

Albus and Rose shared a look. But, to everyone's surprise, it was Scorpius who spoke up.

"This is about the war, isn't it?" he asked, cautiously looking to his father. "When you were on opposite sides."

It was no longer a question, but a statement.

"Yes," Draco replied quietly. "Yes it is."

"Wait a second," Louis began, quite confused. "Different sides meaning…?"

"I was a Death Eater," Draco confirmed somewhat apprehensively. "My whole family were. We were a part of Voldemort's inner circle," he explained, pulling up his left sleeve and shoving them a long, thin scar. "The remains of my Dark Mark."

"He almost killed himself trying to cut it out," Astoria elaborated. "It's lucky we found him before it did."

"Why are you telling us this?" Dominique asked, finally looking away from Draco's arm.

"You need to know," Bill replied somewhat stonily, not tearing his eyes away from Draco's arm. "You need to understand."

"Understand?" Victoire asked. "Understand what?"

"The old nightmare," George clarified, his voice thick with emotion. "**Our** nightmare."

"The one you were never supposed to experience," Ginny told them.

"Why is it coming back? Why now? After nineteen years?" Angelina, George's wife, asked no one in particular.

"It was supposed to be over," Astoria agreed, grabbing hold of her husband's hand. "The good side was supposed to have won."

The kids looked at each other, confused.

"Let's start at the beginning," the portrait of Lily suggested, appearing in the photo frame on the coffee table between two of the Potters' arm chairs. "May I?" she asked her son, who simply nodded. "Voldemort was gaining power long before your parents were born," she told the kids. "He was becoming quite powerful when we – that is, James, Sirius, Remus, Severus and I – were at school. There was a group of Death Eaters – his followers – that everyone knew about. Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, who graduated a few years before us … Yaxley, who was a year above me … Macnair and Nott, Lestrange … and then there was Bellatrix. Bellatrix Black."

"You forgot me," Severus drawled from the portrait above the fireplace.

"Well, you redeemed yourself, didn't you? Took you a few years, mind…" Sirius moved from portrait to portrait, until he stood next to Severus. Putting his hand on his shoulder, he continued: "Frankly, I'm surprised they let you in – and that's got nothing to do with Frank," he gestured to Frank Longbottom, who was sitting in a photo frame next to his son's chair with his wife Alice, and Remus and Tonks. "Severus' best friend was muggleborn, after all."

"And a Gryffindor!" James added, suddenly standing on the other side of Severus.

"We hadn't talked in years," Lily jumped in, leading the conversation back on track.

And so they explained it all: the prophecy, Voldemort's downfall, hit attempts to return to life ("That's just creepy," James commented on Voldemort's sharing Professor Quirrell's body. "Disgusting," Fred agreed. "I mean, imagine having the face of the most evil wizard of all time protruding form the back of your head?") They told them about the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric's death and Voldemort's return in the graveyard, about the Order of the Phoenix and the events leading to Sirius' demise ("Death by cloth!" he had joked), Harry's trial and the Ministry hag. Finally, they arrived at the topic of Voldemort's last ties to the Earth.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly?" Victoire asked several hours later, shock evident in her voice. "He split his soul into **seven pieces**?"

"Yep," Ron replied matter-of-factly, his arms wrapped firmly around his wife. "And we had to find their hiding places."

"How **do** you split your soul?" Teddy asked. "I mean, it must be a really terrible procedure to … Oh." He seemed to have worked it out for himself.

"Anyway, we'd found most of them-"

"-How?" Rose interrupted Harry, who looked to Ron and Hermione.

"Harry destroyed the diary with a Basilisk fan in our second year, and we dunno what Dumbledore did to the ring. Kreacher hunted Dung down to get the locket back – we had to sneak into the Ministry and steal it from the Ministry hag – I mean Umbridge!" he quickly corrected himself upon seeing the look on his wife's face.

"Your dad destroyed the locket with the Sword of Gryffindor," Hermione explained, jumping in before Ron could say something else she didn't like. "Then we broke into Gringotts to get into the Lestrange's vault and left on the back of a dragon with Hufflepuff's Cup, which was destroyed in the Room of Requirement – don't ask," she said to Rose, who closed her mouth very quickly. "Roqena Ravenclaw's diadem was in there, too…"

The kids' mouths hung open in shock.

"You destroyed some of the most priceless wizard artifacts the world has ever seen?" Mrs Weasley, who had only ever known there were seven, exclaimed angrily.

James laughed. "My dad is bada-" One look from his mother prevented him from finishing his sentence.

"So you did break into my sister's vault," Narcissa stated, speaking for the first time since arriving earlier that morning.

"Yes. But after the Snatchers brought us to your home," Harry confirmed.

"Hang on a minute, if you guys destroyed priceless artefacts, why do I still get grounded – or detention?" This was directed at Neville, who was sitting in the corner with his wife, Hannah.

Chuckling, he replied, "Are you saving the world?"

"Well – no," James replied, sounding slightly put out.

"There's your answer," Neville smiled. "After we all though Harry was dead – wait. If there's seven, and I killed the last one – his snake – then…"

"I was a horcrux," Harry confirmed to a room full of stunned people. "The one he never intended to make. So when I went to the forest, he killed me. And I let him do it. When he did, he destroyed his own horcrux."

"And none of their curses would work properly on the rest of us because you died to save us, just as Lily died to save you," Hermione thought aloud.

"Wow," Albus breathed. "Then what happened?"

"Well, the battle started up again, and Bellatrix shot a cruse at Ginny, so…" Molly's voice faded, as she stared directly at her only son-in-law with wide eyes.

"It all makes sense," Harry sighed, burying his head in his hands.

"What?" James and Fred demanded urgently.

"You're saying Rodolphus waited **nineteen years** – led everyone to believe he was dead – to get revenge?" Arthur asked skeptically.

"Revenge for **what**?" the two boys demanded.

"Grandmum?" Albus' cousin Molly lay a calming hand on their grandmother's arm. "What happened?"

She took a moment before replying. "We duelled, and … and…" She took a deep, calming breath.

"And I killed her."


	12. Disrupted Evening

**Chapter Twelve  
>Disrupted Evening<strong>

It had taken several hours, but Arthur had finally managed to calm Molly down enough to take her back to the Burrow, where they would be met by hurriedly-organized Auror protection.

"You'll be staying here tonight," Harry said to Narcissa, Astoria and Draco.

"Why?" Narcissa asked nervously.

Rodolphus has had unprecedented access to your home for many years," he replied, kissing Ginny's cheek on his way out the door. "We've got to go and search it now."

"Harry, it's Christmas," Astoria pleaded. "We're happy to stay, but surely this can't wait until tomorrow?"

"The DA wasn't just words to me," he replied, hugging Lily. "There's someone out there who wants to hurt my family. Things just got personal."

"You were a part of Dumbledore's Army?" Draco quietly asked his wife after dinner.

"Yes," she replied. "Yes, I was. I was only twelve at the time, but I knew there was something big going on. And I had to fight."

"And that is why I think you were wrongly placed in Ravenclaw."

"Scorpius, come and join us!" Rose called, beckoning the blonde boy to join the Weasley cousins (bar Lily and Hugo, who were already in bed) beside the fireplace in the den.

"It's a tradition on Christmas night that we read The Tales of Beedle the Bard," Albus explained. "Teddy's reading The Tale of the Three Brothers. It's my favourite."

"There once were three brothers," Teddy read, "who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure."

"And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of three new victims, for travellers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him."

"So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother."

"Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead."

"And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death so he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility."

"Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way and they did so, talking with wonder of the adventure they had had, and admiring Death's gifts. In due course the brothers separated, each of his own destination."

"The first brother travelled on for a week or more, and reaching a distant village, he sought out a fellow wizard with who he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor, the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible."

"That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden, upon his bed. The thief took the wand and, for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat. And so Death took the first brother for his own."

"Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared at once before him."

"Yet she was silent and cold, separated from him as though by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally, the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as to truly join her. And so Death took the second brother for his own."

"But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."

Finally, Teddy finished the story and sighed. "Don't even think about it, James. The wand doesn't exist. Nor does the stone."

James muttered something about "so not thinking that."

"Ginny! GINNY!" Albus and Scorpius woke with a start, having heart Albus' dad yelling for his wife. "TEDDY! JAMES!"

Being the fastest runner and hearing the panic in his father's voice, Albus sprinted down the stairs, Scorpius in tow. "Dad? What's wrong?" he asked, but stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing his Uncle Ron laying motionless on the carpet, in a pool of blood.

"Get Andromeda! NOW!" his dad roared.


	13. Taken

**Chapter Thirteen  
>Taken<strong>

Albus grabbed Scorpius' arm and they ran towards the fireplace, just in time to hear his brother thunder down the stairs saying, "What is going-" and then, "Bloody hell!"

Throwing floo power in the fire and jumping in, Albus yelled, "Tonks residence!"

The world span very, very fast, until suddenly all was still and both boys fell face first onto the floor.

"Who was – Albus!" Andromeda exclaimed, walking towards the boys holding a candle and wearing her pyjamas.

"Dad needs you! Uncle Ron – he's-"

"-Let's go, shall we?" she calmly picked up her wand and took hold of the two boys arms, turned on the spot, and they vanished with a small 'pop.'

Upon arriving in the Potter's living room, Andromeda jumped into action. Crouching down on the floor beside Ron, she pulled out her wand and started muttering healing charms.

"Harry, get me the dittany!" she demanded to Albus' father, who jumped up and ran to the kitchen, where Albus knew all of the healing potions were kept. "Victoire," the blonde girl looked up, "you still want to be a healer?" She nodded tentatively in response. "On the job training," Andromeda nodded towards Harry, who had returned with the Essence of Dittany. "Bring that over here."

And so the two set to work.

"A couple of drops here … And on his arm … There you go, nice and easy now…"

Albus sat quietly on the floor with Scorpius, Rose sitting, terrified, between them.

"It's ok," Albus distinctly heard Scorpius whispering to Rose. "He's going to be fine."

It was then that Ron gave a bloodcurdling scream, and Draco jumped forward yelling what sounded vaguely like a counter curse.

"The bloody bastard's here," he said, sprinting out the front door.

"Draco! No!" Astoria yelled, taking off after him with Harry and Ginny in tow.

"Aah!" Rose screamed, ducking to avoid a curse flying through the window.

"PROTEGO!" Albus roared, putting into practice the theory of shield charms they'd learnt at school.

Before his very eyes, a massive opaque magical shield erupted from his wand, surrounding everyone in the room. Now, while curses were flying through the window, nothing was hitting anyone.

"Has he ever been splinched?" Andromeda asked Hermione, who was calming down now that they'd all but stopped the bleeding.

"Uh – yes. While we were on the run," she replied distractedly, crouching down and taking Ron's other hand.

"And what did

"Uh – yes. While we were on the run," she replied distractedly, crouching down and taking Ron's other hand.

"And what did you do for it?"

"Dittany," Hermione replied instantly.

"That's why it's healed so quickly," Andromeda replied, sitting back and smiling. "He's going to be fine, but I'd like to get him to St Mungo's all the same. One can never be too sure."

Hermione sighed with relief as Ron opened his eyes.

"'Mione?" he asked, disorientated. "Waz going on?"

"You'll make a fine healer, my dear," Andromeda quietly said to Victoire, who smiled.

"I can't believe that," Harry was saying to Ginny, who sighed.

"Harry, there's nothing you could've done."

"Ginny – he attacked our family! Our kids!"

"And it's lucky Kreacher stepped in when he did, or we'd all be dead."

Outside, while Andromeda and Victoire had been treating Ron, Albus and Scorpius' parents were outside fighting Rodolphus. And he had brought friends. They had started firing Killing Curses when Kreacher appeared and used his separate branch of magic to help fight them off.

Now, however, the boys were packed up and the family about to leave for Kings Cross.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts…" Lily sang loudly, showing her excitement at joining her brothers at the school, if only for a few weeks. After the attack the previous evening, it had been decided that Lily and Hugo would be safer with their siblings, under Auror protection at the school, and so she had happily packed her bag and was eagerly awaiting the time to leave.

"Ah, damn," Harry sighed, taking what looked like a normal galleon out of his pocket. However, Albus knew for a fact that these were coins used by the Order of the Phoenix to communicate discreetly. "Gin, Kingsley wants to see us."

"So go," Albus' mother replied, putting her jacket on.

"No, Gin – all of us. You, me, Draco, Astoria, Ron and Hermione.

"Well, can't we-"

"-He's pushed back a meeting with China's Senior Ministry Officials."

"Bullocks."

And that is how Albus found himself spinning through the floo network with his siblings in tow. By the time they arrived at Platform 9 ¾, however, it was in a state of bedlam.

"Al-"

"-SIRIUS!"

The three Potter siblings turned around, spotting Fred, Roxanne, Rose, Hugo, Scorpius and Louis behind a concrete pillar. Most interestingly, Fred had his hand over Rose's mouth and was beckoning them towards him. Obligingly, the Potters ran.

"Protego!" Albus called over his shoulder, casting another shield charm.

"What in the name of Merlin's pants is going on?" James demanded of Fred, who finally let go of Rose and pushed her toward his sister.

"We don't know. The weird people with the cloaks turned up and started chanting something about muggleborns-"

"-They didn't use the polite term-"

"-And blood traitors-"

"-That's Weasleys-"

"-And then they started shouting curses everywhere. We grabbed these two and ducked behind here, but then they did-"

"-That," Roxanne finished, pointing to a spot ten feet in the air.

Albus recoiled in horror.

There, suspended ten feet in the air were Molly, Lucy, Dominique and Victoire.

"They're taking them."


	14. Molly Returns

**Chapter Fourteen  
>Molly Returns<strong>

"Call dad! Call mum! Come **on**, we've got to do **something**!" Albus exclaimed, jumping up with his wand in his hand. Needless to say, he was incredibly surprised when James grabbed him by the neck of his robes and pulled him back down again.

"No Al," he shook his head. "This one's for the Aurors."

It was the first time the scarlet Hogwarts Express had not left the magical station. It was the first time the students had not left for school at precisely eleven o'clock. It was the first time students had been sent to school via secure portkeys. It was also the first time the Minister for Magic, in conjunction with the Auror Department, had overseen the operation.

However, the Weasley cousins had set a new record of their own: it was the first day of term, and they had **all** been sent to the Headmistress' office.

"Kingsley, we will **not** have Dementors at Hogwarts! Do you not remember what happened last time? Aurors, fine, but I draw the line at creatures whose allegiance was to Voldemort!"

"I know, Minerva, but-"

"-We are already on wartime precautions, Minister Shacklebolt. We are **not** going back to the absolute **stupidity** of Minister Fudge!"

The kids shared looks. The Headmistress had **never** spoken like that before.

"Minerva, hear me out-"

"-Absolutely not! Bring your Aurors in, fine. But no Dementors!"

Finally, Albus knocked on the Headmistress' office door.

"If we could suspend this conversation for a moment, Headmistress, Minister, the students you wanted to see have arrived," he heard a familiar voice say as someone opened the door.

"Uncle Dud?" James asked, dumbfounded, but quickly corrected himself. "I mean – Uncle Dudley! What a surprise!"

James shook the outstretched hand of his second cousin on his father's side. Dudley Dursley had done a lot of growing up since the time his cousin Harry had left their childhood home of Number Four, Privet Drive for good. While in hiding, Dudley's appearance was magically changed, and he had been enrolled under an assumed name at a local school. Instead of leading a gang and being a bully as he had done for the majority of his life, he hit to books and picked up his grades – and worked on his fitness while he was at it.

Now, nineteen years later, Dudley Dursley was the Prime Minister of England.

This was particularly useful, at least in the eyes of the ministry, as Dudley had known about magic from the age of eleven, which enabled him to work closely and effectively with the Wizarding world.

"Why exactly are you here?" James asked cautiously, sitting in his favourite chair opposite the Headmistress' desk, which incidentally had his name engraved on the back. Fred joined him, sitting in the chair beside him. (The two boys had given the chairs Professor McGonagall for Christmas. "We're here too often," James had said. "Now we have our own special seats!" Fred concurred.)

"Kingsley contacted me as soon as they knew some details about what was going on," Dudley explained, crouching down beside Louis' chair. "How're you doing, Louis?" he asked the blonde boy, who had been awfully pale and sickly-looking since he had seen his sisters kidnapped.

"I'm ok," he replied so quietly they could hardly hear him.

"Minister, what exactly is being done to ensure our cousins are returned to us safely?" Roxanne asked, hugging a terrified Lily.

"The Auror Department is currently working on locating Rodolphus' hideout. We're attempting to track the four girls via the trace, which is still affective on the youngest three. However, we're not sure how successful that particular enquiry will be, since Victoire is seventeen already – the trace doesn't function properly when the child is around adult witches or wizards," he explained to Dudley. "Your parents," he nodded to Albus, Rose and Scorpius, "are attempting to track Rodolphus' movements, and the rest of your family are back at the Burrow," he finished in his deep, calm voice.

"But what we really need you to do right now," Dudley jumped in, "is to tell us exactly what you saw happen."

The atmosphere in the Gryffindor common room that evening was nothing like any of Albus' cousins had seen before. Not only were people terrified for the four girls, they were terrified for their families. What if this crazy man started after them next?

"It's quite a natural response," the portrait of Lily Potter explained to Albus, Scorpius and Rose. "Of course everyone is worried for their friends, but everyone always ultimately thinks of themselves. Except perhaps maybe your father," she nodded to her grandson. "On countless occasions he nearly got himself killed – racing Voldemort to the Philosopher's Stone, saving dear Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets, rescuing Sirius when he found out the truth, competing in that stupid tournament, running to aid Sirius in the Department of Mysteries, going on the run to ultimately defeat Voldemort … Ok, so there are some exceptions, but as a general rule, most people think of number one."

"Like the rat," Sirius spat from James' frame.

Scorpius looked at Albus, terribly confused. "I'll tell you later," he replied.

"I'll be back in a moment," Lily stepped out of her frame, and back in moments later. "Message from dad," she began, dusting off her clothes. "They've tracked Rodolphus from outside Malfoy Manor where he attacked Ron to Platform 9¾, and then into London. They've lost him there, though. However, they've had a hit on the trace on Molly – five minutes ago it alerted them to her being on the outskirts of Hogsmeade. It looks like she's heading this w-"

But they were already gone.

Albus led the group as they ran through the halls, secret passageways, and – in once instance – jumped from one platform to the floor below because they couldn't wait for the staircases to move again.

"Oi! You lot!" Filch yelled, wheezing as he attempted to chase them. Finally giving up at last at the top of the marble staircase, he instead started to yell. "Students out of bed! Students in the corridor!" which, naturally, attracted the nearby ghosts.

"Now I don't believe-"

"Peeves! Nick! Helena! Come with us!" James beckoned, shepherding the group out of the Entrance Hall and into the grounds.

"Jamesy-poo?" Peeves asked confusedly. "What's going on?"

"They picked Molly up by the trace. She's heading this way!" The ghosts immediately rushed ahead, their silvery forms acting as a light for the group of students sprinting away from the castle.

"We'll get Hagrid!" Rose yelled, grabbing Al and Scorpius and wrenching them in the direction of the gamekeeper's cabin.

"HAGRID!" they bellowed, banging on the front door. "HAGRID!"

"Blimey!" his eyes opened wide with shock upon seeing them. "Wha're yeh lo' doin' ou' o' bed a' gone midnigh'?"

"We need you!" Scorpius pointed towards the wrought iron gate at the edge of school grounds, which the others were still sprinting towards. He immediately joined their chase, easily overtaking them due to his long strides.

"I can see her!" the Grey Lady, Helena Ravenclaw, ghost of Ravenclaw Tower called a few minutes later. "She's terrified and looks like she's been hurt quite badly, but she's alive!"

"I can' open the gate withou' me umbrella!" Hagrid exclaimed.

"What's the spell?" Roxanne demanded, to which Hagrid simply shook his head.

"Only a Hogwarts staff member can open tha' gate. And Hannah – Mrs Longbottom, I mean."

"We can't leave the Hogwarts grounds," Nick explained sadly. "We're bound to walk this part of the earth only."

"Peeves?" Fred asked hopefully. "You're not really a ghost, right?"

"I – well – yes, Freddie dearie, I'm not a ghost as such, but the ministry'll have old Peevsie's head if I leave the grounds, either! Mr Kingsley's already warned me once!"

"There's no way Molly would hear us from that far away. She must be three or four miles up the road!" Rose told them frantically.

And so, they did what they had to: they bellowed towards the shopping precinct of Hogsmeade Village.

"HANNAH!"

"MRS LONGBOTTOM!"

"HANNAH!"

After a few minutes, Albus looked back towards the castle and found, to his delight, that their bellowing had done some good. "James – look!" Walking briskly toward them, want tips lit, they saw Professors Slughorn, McGonagall, and, sprinting in front of them – Neville.

As he got closer, he yelled something none of them would have cared to attempt to pronounce. With a great lurch, the wrought iron gates opened and the kids spilled out, sprinting towards their red haired cousin, which they found to be in tears.

They surrounded her, hugged her and were yelling, so Neville had to magically magnify the sound of his voice in order to make himself heard.

But Molly only tearfully stared at him.

"I can't hear anything you're saying."


	15. Counter Curse

**Chapter Fifteen  
>Counter Curse<strong>

It had been hours now.

Once they had reached Molly, she was immediately brought to the Hospital Wing – right after Hagrid, Neville and Professor Slughorn had restrained Louis, James and Fred, who were determined to retrace their cousin's steps and find her attacker.

Since then, the Potters, Weasleys, Teddy and Scorpius had been locked out of the Hospital Wing and made to wait in the corridor, save for Audrey. "The child's mother is the only one I'll allow in," Madam Pomfrey had told the twenty people trying to push their way through the doors.

Every two minutes and forty-seven seconds, Albus' Uncle Percy would rise from his chair, pace the hallway, make to knock on the door, but change his mind and sit down again. It was a sign of how hard Albus was trying to get his mind off the present situation that he had timed the movements.

Of course, everyone knew what was going through Percy's head: One of his girls was in there, terrified, and the other was still God-knows-where with two of his nieces, being held captive by crazed Death Eaters.

It was just before first lesson now, so students had begun to pass through the halls.

"Any news?" Alice Longbottom asked on her way to Charms.

"Nothing," Rose replied glumly. "What're you doing?"

Alice, who had dumped her bag on the floor and sat down beside her, smiling comfortingly. "Waiting. Professor Flitwick will understand."

By mid-morning, over half of Gryffindor house had joined them, too. By lunch, all of the second years from each of the four houses had also sat down. There was now barely enough room to tiptoe through the people.

When the majority of the school didn't show up for afternoon lessons, the teachers began to investigate. And not all of them were happy with what they found.

It was about half an hour after Neville cancelled afternoon lessons and shepherded non family members into the Great Hall that Audrey finally emerged, tearful.

"She's resting," she whispered, latching onto Percy's arm. "Madam Pomfrey's given her a sleeping draught." No one hurried her; they simply let her go at her own pace. "She's terrified, and in shock. They brought Andy over to help."

She drew a deep breath. "It was a curse. They said the Death Eaters used it during the first war to disorientate their captives, make them feel helpless. But there is a counter curse: They've used it on her now. She's fine. And she's resting."

Hours later, Percy and Harry were arguing over how to get the other girls attention if they too had had the curse used on them, once they were found.

In the meantime, Albus sat by his cousin's bedside. "What's wrong?" Molly asked him, slowly sitting up in her bed.

"I'm worried about you," he replied. "And the others."

"I'm fine, really," she replied, smiling. "And they will be too. You know what they're like – none of them will go down without a fight. And believe me, they might've taken our hearing, but they didn't touch our sight: Victoire was doing all she could to let them nowhere near any of us."

"That's my girl," Bill smiled, squeezing Molly's hand. "How were Lucy and Dom doing?"

"Lucy was ok. Sitting still and not fighting, live a good captive. And Dom … She wasn't going down without a fight either. She was biting them when they got close enough."

Bill smiled.

"Hey Al," Molly held up her hand. "The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad found my finger this morning, from where I apparated. You can't even see where it had been separated!"

And so, instead of wallowing, it was clear that Molly had decided to make the best of her situation.

"Uncle Harry?"

Harry walked over, Percy not far behind him. "Yes, Molly?"

"That man … Rodolphus … He said something before he took my hearing."

"What was it?" Percy asked.

"He told me to tell you, 'The Chamber of Secrets holds secrets more than you know.'"

"What could that possibly mean?" Percy asked, astonished.

"It means we're going on an adventure."


	16. The Secret of the Chamber

**Chapter Sixteen  
>The Secret of the Chamber<strong>

"And what do you suggest we do if this is a trap?" Hermione demanded, running through the halls with her husband, Harry, Ginny and the children.

"We get the ruddy hell outta there, don't we?" Ron replied rhetorically.

Hermione stopped, obviously not happy. "I still don't think we should be bringing the children down with us. It's not safe!"

"Not safe?" Ron asked disbelievingly. "Hermione, when have any of our adventures **ever** been safe? We got through all those enchantments trying to protect the Philosopher's Stone in our first year. We can't turn around and tell our kids they can't do this to help their cousins! That'd make us hypocrites!"

"He's right," Harry agreed, beckoning them forward. "Plus, if we want to find these so-called secrets of Slytherin's chamber, we'll need more than one Parselmouth. That's why James and Albus are here."

"And if Slytherin had any sense at all, he'd hide the secrets in different parts of the chamber," Ginny continued, "which is why we're splitting into groups."

"And why exactly are we not taking Aurors?" James questioned, pulling a face as his father calmly walked into a girls lavatory.

"Because this adventure is for us," Harry replied, stopping in front of one of the sinks. "Your Uncle Ron and I are Aurors!" he protesting, looking towards Ginny, who was white as a ghost. "Now, you guys need to understand that it might be a little scary down there."

"A little? There's a carcass of a ruddy great Basilisk!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, but then shrunk back again at the look his wife was sending in his direction.

"Do **not** touch the Basilisk fangs," Harry instructed James and Fred, who were smiling evilly at each other. "Myrtle!" he called, much to the surprise of everyone. "Are you in here?"

Moaning Myrtle, the ghost who haunted this particular bathroom popped her head through the wall of one of the stalls. "Oh, hello, Harry!"

"I'm a married man, Myrtle," he replied, obviously not impressed. "Now, if we're not back in an hour, head straight up to Professor McGonagall and tell her where we've gone."

"Uncle Harry, why are we in the girl's lavatory?" Fred enquired, looking around. "It's no different to ours," he commented to James.

"We're in here, Fred, because this is where Salazar Slytherin hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

Harry made a hissing sound that to anyone else would have sounded like a strangled cat. But, as a Parselmouth, Albus knew he was simply saying, "Open."

To their great surprise, the sink slowly lowered itself into the ground, creating an opening large enough for two people to jump through together.

"Shall we?" Harry offered Ginny his arm, which she clasped tightly. "It's like a giant slide going down," he told the kids, "so pick a partner and we'll see you in there."

The next thing they knew, Harry and Ginny were gone.

"You coming, Al?" James asked, sitting on the edge.

"Yeah, why no – AAAAAHHHHH!"

"JAMES!" Albus heard his Aunt Hermione yell on his way down.

"HELP ME!" he yelled, convinced he was going to land face first on the bottom. However, he stopped about three inches before it, and then landed softly on the floor. "Thanks, mum."

Ginny smiled, then marched over to the bottom of the slide where her oldest son would be arriving momentarily.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" she bellowed as soon as she saw him, causing sparks to shoot out of the end of her wand.

It went on for fifteen minutes.

"HOW DARE YOU PUSH YOUR BROTHER!"

"DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND HE COULD HAVE DIED?"

"THINGD ARE FUNNY UP TO A POINT, JAMES!"

"FILCH IS RIGHT – YOU'RE BECOMING A MENACE!"

Eventually, she seemed to have run out of steam. "Don't scare me like that, James," she told him seriously. "This place almost took dad and my lives. We don't want you risking it, too."

"Ok, James, you take Hermione, Audrey, Charlie, Fred and Louis and head to the left. There's some tunnels through there. They might hold something." Harry turned around, and it was as though he were directing traffic. "Al, you take Ron, Bill, Roxanne, Scorpius and Neville and head into the main chamber – through here. I'll take Ginny, Fleur, Percy, George and Angelina to the right, and – Helena? Nick? Peeves?" Harry asked, not believing his eyes. "What're you ... ?"

"Helping, of course," replied Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. "I'll go with Albus, Peeves will join James," ("Oh good," Hermione muttered), "and Helena will go with you."

"We'll be able to check for any major dangers first," Helena added. "We asked Myrtle to join us, but she refused to come down here. She's flooded the bathroom, though, and the Baron's up there with her – they're keeping prying eyes away."

"Who ever thought Moaning Myrtle would come in handy?"

James' comment earned him a slap on the back of the head from his mother.

"_Open_," Albus commanded a secluded doorway in parseltongue.

"Allow me," Nearly Headless Nick glided through the doorway at the very back of the main section of the Chamber of Secrets. "It's all clear!" he called, to their relief. "You'll really be wanting to see this, though."

Albus, Scorpius, Ron, Roxanne, Bill and Neville stepped through the entrance, their jaws dropping as they did.

"Are we in ... Slytherin's **office**?" Neville asked disbelievingly.

"It certainly appears so," Nick replied, floating towards the wall of bookcases. "Look at these books! Some of these aren't even in modern-day languages! And here we all thought the founders book collection was lost forever!"

"There was a minor accident with some of the books in the library in our first year," Roxanne explained to a very confused Scorpius.

"That wasn't an accident," Bill corrected her. "You and your troublemaking cousins blew them up!"

"Blew them up?" Scorpius exclaimed. But it didn't sound like he was the only one talking.

"Um..." Albus looked to his best friend, who simply shrugged.

"It was an **accident**, Uncle Bill! See, we were experimenting with muggle means of pranking," Roxanne continued her explanation, "and we may have had a little accident with ... adding three times more gun powder than we actually needed," she finished very, very quickly. "But we learnt our lesson when we did the maths afterward, a-"

But a loud, menacing voice had cut her off.

"THOU HAST DESTROYED THE PRECIOUS TEXTS OF THESE FOUDNERS FOUR?"

They jumped with fright, and turned around. Standing before them, a good three feet off the ground was a pearly white figure of average height, with a bald head and a small pointed beard.

"Is that ... ?" a bewildered Bill asked Neville.

"Yeah, it is," was Neville's reply.

The terrible angry man standing before them was Salazer Slytherin, founder of Slytherin House.


	17. Salazar Slytherin

**Chapter Seventeen  
>Salazar Slytherin<strong>

"DAD!" Albus bellowed, backing towards the bookcase with Scorpius, Roxanne, Ron, Bill and Neville. "DAD!"

"Oh bloody hell – HARRY!" a very pale Ron added for good measure.

They heard the sound of running footsteps, the door opening, and then …

… Nothing.

Unable to tear his eyes away from the menacing ghost of Salazar Slytherin, Albus drew on his peripheral vision to see who it was standing in the doorway. To his great relief, he found it to be his father, flanked by his mother and Aunt Hermione.

"Salazar Slytherin?" Hermione breathed disbelievingly.

"Aye," the ghost agreed, turning to face the doorway. "Thou hast head of thy achievements?" he questioned.

"Ah – yes," Hermione nodded slowly, cautiously stepping around Harry and into the room. "You founded Slytherin House. And when you left Hogwarts, you sealed this secret chamber – the Chamber of Secrets – until such a time as your own true heir returned to Hogwarts."

"Aye," he nodded. "Hast thou opened thy chamber?"

"Um, no," she began moving back towards the doorway slowly. "No. You see, sir, I'm muggleborn."

Slytherin scowled for a moment. "Such a shame. Thy would have chose thou for thine own House. Thou wast educated under Ravenclaw?" he questioned.

"Uh – no, sir. I was in Gryffindor House." Slytherin's scowl deepened. "But sir, the other founders aren't teaching anymore."

"Where are thy's founder friends?" the ghost demanded, moving forward until he was hovering in Hermione's terrified face.

"Hogwarts is over a thousand years old, sir," Albus offered quietly. "The other three founders are long dead."

As Slytherin's features softened, he floated back to his desk, and sank into the chair. There he sat for a full five minutes, his head in his hands. No one dared move.

"Forgive an old wizard," he whispered quietly. "Thy wast unaware of the passing of thy's companions."

It was then that a though struck Albus. Slytherin was truly upset. And maybe, just maybe, that meant…

With a surge of Gryffindor courage, Albus stepped up to the desk. "Sir?" The ghost looked up, pearly white tears silently falling down his cheeks. "Would you like to see your school?"

The old man simply smiled.

Albus silently stepped away from the sink hiding the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, the pearly white ghost of Salazar Slytherin floating silently by his side.

"Out of interest, sir," the ghost looked towards him expectantly, "why did you hide the entrance to your chamber in the girls lavatory?"

The old man smiled. "'Tis the last place one would think to look."

"It's ok, Myrtle," they heard Nearly Headless Nick call from behind them. "We're all back!"

"Who is this 'Myrtle'?" Slytherin quietly asked Albus.

"They call her Moaning Myrtle," he replied in an undertone. "She was a Hogwarts student who was killed by your basilisk when the chamber was opened seventy years ago."

Slytherin sighed. "Such a shame." Looking over at Hermione, he continued, "Muggleborn?"

"Yes sir."

He sighed again. "Perhaps blood purity is not so important after all."

As they watched an exchange between the adults and Myrtle in which Harry reminded her four times that he was married, Albus added, "Myrtle's also got a huge crush on my dad."

"So this is the Entrance Hall," Albus continued Slytherin's tour of Hogwarts Castle while the adults informed Professor McGonagall and the Ministry of Magic of their discovery.

"This staircase was all but destroyed in the Battle of Hogwarts, Professor Thomas told us, but it was nothing a little magic couldn't fix!" Rose happily added.

"What is this 'Battle of Hogwarts' thy speaks so reverently of?" Slytherin enquired as they descended the staircase.

"It's a really long story," Albus replied, "but we're learning about it in History of Magic. You should sit in on the class. I'm sure Professor Thomas wouldn't mind."

"Albus!" They turned toward the dungeon staircase, where Professor Slughorn was making his way up for an early lunch. "You three weren't in Potions last lesso-" He stopped dead in his tracks, seeing who was with them.

"Professor Slughorn, meet Salazar Slytherin. Sir, this is Professor Horace Slughorn, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House."

"Ah, Professor. Would thy mind terribly showing an old wizard to his students' dungeons?"

"N-not at all, S-sir. Th-this w-way."

As he followed the short, round man through the Entrance Hall, Slytherin turned back to the first years.

"We shall meet in the Great Hall for lunch."

By the time the lunch hour rolled around, just about everybody in the school had heard about the ghost of Salazar Slytherin.

"So where is he?" James demanded, plonking himself down opposite Albus at the Gryffindor table. "I wanna see if he can still speak parseltongue, even though he's dead. Pass the potatoes?" Rolling her eyes, Rose reluctantly picked up the bowl and handed them to her cousin.

"Of course he can still speak parseltongue, idiot," Allie Pennington interrupted their conversation, seating herself between Rose and Roxanne. "All the other ghosts are dead, but they still have their linguistic skills."

"But they only speak English!" Fred argued.

"Actually," Pennington corrected him, "Sir Nicholas also speaks Italian and French."

"Molly!" Rose exclaimed happily, sharing a smile with her cousin as she sat herself between Fred and James. "How are you doing?"

"Sorry?" Molly asked, indicating that Rose would have to repeat herself. "I've got my hearing back, but it's damaged. Andy says that's what generally happens when the curse is lifted by someone other than the person who cast it."

"How are you?" Rose asked again, more slowly this time.

"Oh. Good!" Molly smiled, serving herself some potatoes.

"Albus!" Professor Slughorn boomed, walking the length of the Gryffindor table with a bounce in his step, and the ghost of Salazar Slytherin by his side.

All movement throughout the Great Hall stopped as people stared at the pearly white figure, who seemed not to notice.

"Ah, Albus. Professor Slughorn gave thy a tour of the dungeons. They really haven't changed," Slytherin concluded, seating himself beside Albus.

"You're picking up on the language changes already, Sir," Albus observed.

"Yes, the language is quite … different, now," Slytherin replied. "Is this you family?"

"Oh, yes, Sir. This is Roxanne, Molly, Louis and Fred, my cousins. And this is-"

"_James Potter_," James hissed in Parseltongue. "_Al's older brother. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir._"

"_You as well, James_," Slytherin replied.

"This is going to drive me insane," Scorpius muttered, watching Roxanne pile potatoes onto her spoon and prepare to fire them at James.


	18. Hogsmeade

**Chapter Eighteen  
><strong>**Hogsmeade**

Before anyone knew it, the students were heading out on their third Hogsmeade weekend of the year. And despite the fact that they were to be accompanied by Aurors, James, Fred, Louis and Roxanne were still planning to sneak banned objects back in with them.

"Mr Filch has them on the banned list?" Albus asked.

"Correct," James replied, packing the Marauders Map into his backpack.

"His Hogsmeade duties are being filled by other teachers?"

"They certainly are," James replied again, fishing a broken quill out of the bottom of the bag.

"So, naturally, you're going to attempt to bring Uncle George's products into the castle?" Albus clarified, clearly not believing his ears.

"How hard can it be?" James replied, leaving the Gryffindor Common Room with his three cousins.

"This is going to end in detention," Albus stated, sitting in one of the squishy arm chairs surrounding the fire.

"Al!" The three first years heard someone who sounded suspiciously like James yell out as they made their way down the marble staircase, heading towards the Great Hall.

They turned, and were astonished to find themselves face to face with the three boys who were intent on smuggling contraband items into the school.

"Why do you look like you've been in a fight?" Albus asked his brother cautiously as he approached the group.

"It doesn't matter," James replied distractedly. "What does matter is that we know where Rodolphus took the girls!"

"You know where he's got Vic, Dom and Lucy?" Rose asked with a sense of urgency. "Why haven't you told your dad?"

"That's what we're doing now!" Fred called over his shoulder as the three boys raced up to Gryffindor tower.

"Well come on, then!" Scorpius led the way in the race to catch up with them.

"Floo powder!" Louis called as he tossed a little old green bag to his cousin.

With the agility of a seeker, Albus caught the bag before it could end up in the flames of the fireplace.

"Thanks," James said, taking it from him.

He threw a pinch into the fire, got down onto his hands and knees and called, "Auror Office, Ministry of Magic!" and promptly put his head into the green flames. "OW!" he yelled two seconds later.

"What?" a panicked Rose exclaimed, running forward and pulling him out of the fireplace.

"My head hit a brick wall!" James replied, rubbing the spot on the top of his head that had made contact.

"That makes no sense," Albus thought aloud. "You were heading for a fireplace - a fireplace that's certainly not sealed over.

It was at that moment that Roxanne ran through the portrait hole. "I just had a patronus from mum!" the urgency in her voice caught her family's attention. "Rodolphus has got into the Ministry. He's locked it down from the inside."

"What?" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Mum said she'd managed to hide for the moment, but everyone's there - grandma, grandpa, all the uncles and aunts. They took her wand just as the message finished coming through."

"Well," James began, standing up to his full height. "It looks like it's up to us to save the family." Albus looked at him as though he were insane. "Gather the cousins," James instructed Louis and Fred, who nodded once and made their way towards the portrait hole. "Roxanne, you find Frank, Lily and Hugo. We're in wartime security - if we want to get out of here, we're going to need a distraction." Roxanne nodded and followed after her brother.

"Hey Roxy!" Albus called out at the last minute. "If they don't want to get caught, they're going to need this," he produced the invisibility cloak from his backpack and handed it to her. "Tell them to use it well."

"Yessir!" she replied, exiting the common room.

"I've got the map," James took an old piece of parchment out of his jumper. "You want to do the honours?"

Albus smiled, took out his wand and placed it gently on the old parchment. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

To Scorpius and Rose's surprise, the parchment came to life, and red ink began to make its way to the surface.

"Is that ... a map of Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked tentatively.

"This can't be legal," Rose muttered, taking a step backwards.

"For once, Rose, ignore your Granger genes. Be a Weasley, just this once," James pleaded, folding up the map. "I need you and Scorpius to distract Professor McGonagall. Albus, you and I need to scope out the Shrieking Shack."

"How?" Albus questioned, following him out of Gryffindor tower.

"Through the Whomping Willow."

"Are you insane?" Albus yelled, ducking to avoid a branch hitting him in the head.

"No," James replied, taking out his wand and sending a freezing charm at the trunk if the giant, deadly tree. "Would it kill you to trust me?"

"Considering I almost got concussion from the branch of a possessed tree? Yes!" the disgruntled first year replied, crouching down and following his brother through the small opening in the tree's trunk.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't get an opening to cast the freezing spell!"

"That's not the point!" Albus replied, now standing up. "So where are we?"

"The Shrieking Shack," James replied as he headed up an old staircase. "We need to make sure there's enough room for all of us to meet here and leave without being seen."

It was then that a paper plane flew up the stairs and straight into the back of Albus' head.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head.

_Sorry!_ appeared on the piece of paper James had since unfolded. _We've found the youngins_, the writing continued. _Hugo said he'll cause the distraction_.

_Fantastic!_ James wrote back. _Head up to the Shack when you're ready. We're scoping it out now._

Albus' eyes bulged when he realised that this was how James and his cousins communicated.

_Want us to bring some lunch?_ Roxanne's hurried scrawl came back.

_Do you have to ask?_ James replied, rolling his eyes and continuing his survey of the old dilapidated shack.

A few minutes later, the sound of thundering footsteps alerted the two brothers to the entrance of their family members.

Roxanne, Hugo, Louis, Fred and Lily were accompanied by Frank and Alice Longbottom, and - to James' horror - Grace Pennington.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded upon seeing her.

"I overheard Roxanne talking to these three," she replied matter-of-factly. "If you lot are off on an adventure, someone's got to make sure you don't do something stupid."

"You're not coming with us," James stated, only to be met with a very icy glare. "You're practically on the short list for Prefect! We're about to break about a billion rules, and probably some magical laws, too."

"So?" she asked quietly.

"So you'll be a part of it, Pennington!"

"Maybe I want to be!" she roared back. "Maybe I want to be known for doing something like this!"

James stared at her, mouth wide open.

"Maybe I don't want to be known as the vampire girl."


	19. Plan in Action

**Chapter Nineteen  
>Plan in Action<strong>

As they sat down to dinner that night, the staff and students of Hogwarts had no idea that the Weasley cousins were planning what would later be termed a "prison break."

"We're on wartime precautions," Grace Pennington had said earlier, "so naturally, you plan to break out of Hogwarts."

"Well," James had replied, "my name is James Potter."

"Remind me again why we don't just go to Professor McGonagall about this?" Rose whispered, bringing Albus out of his thoughts.

"Because all she'll do is call the Aurors. Who are trapped inside the Ministry," Albus replied quietly.

"Oh," Rose replied glumly.

"We've just got back from trying to floo the Burrow," Louis whispered as he and Molly joined the first years at the table.

"And?" Scorpius asked.

"Nothing," Molly replied quietly. "A breeze blew a piece of parchment off the kitchen table. It was from Grandad, asking Grandmum to quickly go to the Ministry. They were hiding up in the Auror Department during the first part of the attack."

"They needed help," Louis finished for her, passing her the bowl of mashed potatoes.

"So he asked Grandma," Albus continued. "It makes sense."

Then, their plan bloomed into action.

"What on earth is going on?" they heard Professor McGonagall yell.

The four house tables and the teacher's table had flown up into the air - the teachers along with it.

"I love Hugo," Fred muttered as he and James quietly made their way into the Entrance Hall through the ensuing bedlam.

There was a bang as the Slytherin table hit the ground, and the students seats flew up into the air.

"That's our cue," Albus muttered to Scorpius, and the two boys exited the Great Hall just as the Slytherin students began flying around the hall.

"James and Fred are heading down to get Fang from Hagrid's," Lily's voice told them as they passed a suit of armour. "Good luck."

"Thanks Lils," Albus replied, squeezing the hand suddenly floating in mid air in front of him.

By the time the two boys arrived at the Whomping Willow, James and Fred had collected Fang and frozen the tree branches.

"Take him inside," James instructed, handing Albus the old big black dig's leash. "We'll wait for the others out here."

"Why do we need Hagrid's dog?" Scorpius asked once they were inside the Shrieking Shack.

"He'll help us if we get in trouble," Albus replied, taking a small photo frame out of his pocket. "Severus? Did you manage to get in?"

"Yes," the portrait replied, looking around the room. "I got into my photo frame in your father's office - they've got the family locked up in there."

"And?" Scorpius asked, placing the frame on a small box in the corner.

"Rodolphus' men have taken their wands. Your father has given me instructions to raise the alarm with the Order of the Phoenix."

"Frank, Lily and Hugo are causing mayhem in the Great Hall," Rose explained when she and Roxanne walked in. "The portrait behind the teacher's table has a magnification charm on it."

"With pleasure," Severus replied, leaving the portrait before anyone could even blink.

"Severus just left," Albus explained to James and Fred, who had just arrived with Molly, Louis, Alice Longbottom and Grace Pennington in tow.

"Let's go," Louis said, withdrawing an old quill from his pocket.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Fred asked Roxanne, who took a deep breath and nodded.

"Portus," she whispered, and watched the quill glow blue.

"Everyone grab on," James instructed. "Al, you hold on to Fang."

"Thirty seconds," Louis announced.

"So Pennington, you ready to break the rules?"

Grace didn't have a chance to answer. They all felt a hook behind their navel, and then they were suddenly spinning through the world.

They landed with a thud in the middle of an old cobblestone street, but quickly got up and made their way to an alley between two of the old shop fronts surrounding them.

"James, where on earth are we?" Grace Pennington asked, rubbing her shoulder, which had been the first part of her body to make contact with the ground.

"We're in I - wait a second," he stopped himself, looking up in realisation. "You called me James!"

Roxanne sighed, and hit him over the back of the head. "Focus!"

"Oh, right. Sorry," he replied, shaking his head as though that would clear his thoughts. "We're in El Mago Villagio, an old wizarding village in the Italian countryside."

"We're in Italy?" Grace exclaimed, looking around the alley madly, as though something were about to jump out and bite her.

"Calm down, Pennington," James replied, placing a calming hand on your arm.

"It's this way," Molly announced, pointing to the end of the alley. "It's like the gateway to Platform 9 3/4. Only magical beings can go through it."

"I'll go first," James told her, stepping up and placing his hand on the barrier. "This was my idea, after all."

"I'm coming with you," Grace told him, stepping forward. "Give me a minute."

She stood still for a moment, baring her teeth. As the group stood, staring at her, she shut her eyes and focused on something. When she opened them, she had fangs.

"Where did that come from?" James asked her.

"I'm half vampire, remember?" she replied. "You're going to need me if you go in there."

He simply stared at her.

"This is one of the least safe wizarding places in the world," she continued. "You need fangs - for protection."

"I'll come back through and let you know if it's safe," James told them, but stopped just before he and Grace stepped through the wall. "Remember, if anything goes wrong, call Kreacher."

Two minutes later, James stepped back through. "It's safe. But keep your wands out."


	20. Saving Them

**Chapter Twenty  
><strong>**Saving Them**

"Whoa," Albus breathed as he stepped through the archway. "Spooky."

"I can see why they chose to have their hideout here," Scorpius agreed.

"Keep your voices down and follow me," James instructed, and led them further up the old cobblestone alleyway.

"It's this one," Molly informed them, stopping them in their tracks. "Stay away from that window - they can see through it if they're down with the girls."

"Pity we don't have the cloak," Louis muttered, taking a step backwards so he would be out of sight of anyone in the room below the house.

"Ah, but we do," Roxanne replied, pulling the ancient material out of her jumper. "Lily gave it to me just in case."

"Excellent!" Fred said happily, rubbing his hands together.

"Al," Albus looked to his older brother. "Do you want to do the honours?"

"With pleasure," the first year replied, pulling the cloak over his shoulders and obscuring himself from view. "Ah!" he muttered when he bent down and looked through the window.

There, tied up in chairs lined up against the far wall of the small underground room with the tiny outside window were Victoire, Dominique and Lucy, all screaming at a man dressed in black robes and a mask, who had his wand out and was gesturing towards the street.

It hit Albus before he even thought to turn around - they knew they were here.

He closed his eyes and held his breath, then turned silently on his hands and knees.

He came face to face with an empty street.

"No!" he muttered, gripping his wand incredibly tightly as he slowly drew himself to his feet. "Ok, calm down. Take a deep breath, Al. You've got this."

He took a moment to steady himself on his own two feet before he tried to come up with a plan. _What would dad do?_ he thought to himself, taking a small step to the left as he closed his eyes and remembered the newspaper articles he and his friends had recently found about his father:

_Potter Saves the World_

_Potter's Enginuity Saves School Full of Muggles_

That one jogged the young first year's memory. _What was it dad did?_ he thought, looking around the house. _That's right!_ he mentally exclaimed. "He snuck in through the side gate!"

And there it was, a little more than ten feet to his left: the small, inconspicuous side gate, covered in part by brambles.

"Score Potter one, bad guys zero," he smiled, moving forward and attempting to move the brambles covering the gate. "Careful now," he muttered as he opened the old gate. Mercifully, it didn't creak loudly; somehow, it was absolutely silent.

_Looks like luck is on my side_, Albus thought, now feeling slightly hopeful.

"Kreacher," he whispered almost silently, hoping beyond hope that his family's house elf would be able to apparate silently.

There was a small pop as Kreacher arrived, although thankfully not loud enough for those inside to notice.

"Yes, M-"

"-Shh!" Albus cut over him, pulling him under the invisibility cloak.

"Master Albus? We are not at Hogwarts." Kreacher looked around, and visibly paled as he did so. "Master Albus, are we in El Mago Villagio?"

"Yes, Kreacher, and the cousins are in trouble."

That got his attention.

"This way, Master Albus. Follow Kreacher, but be sure to stay under your cloak."

Instead of using magic to get inside, Kreacher did it the old school way: he simply walked through the door.

"They're in the basement," Albus whispered. "Toward the front of the house - they can see through the tiny window out the front."

"Yes, but Miss Pennington is upstairs," Kreacher pointed above them.

"It makes sense," Albus concurred. "If I were them, I'd keep the one with fangs away from the others so they can't figure out a way to get out of here."

"I'll get Miss Pennington; You head down to the basement and see if you can talk to your brother. When I arrive with our vampire friend, we'll get ourselves out of here."

"Did I mention that after this, we're going to London to save the Ministry?"

Kreacher didn't say anything. He was already gone.

"_James_," Albus breathed, tapping his brother on the shoulder. "_Kreacher's upstairs getting Grace. Have they got your wands?_"

"_No_," James replied in paseltongue, startling their captors who immediately began to panic. "_Use a severing charm on our bindings; we'll attack as best we can once we've all been untied._"

"_A severing charm?_" Albus questioned, terror laced in his voice. "_What's the incantation for that?_"

"_Diffindo_," his older brother replied, staring straight ahead as though whoever - or whatever, as he wanted his captors to believe - was on the other side of the room. "_Concentrate really hard, and aim your wand at the bindings. Be careful not to hit the flesh._"

"_Ok_," Albus replied, taking a deep breath and pointing his wand at James' bindings. "Diffindo," he breathed, hardly daring to move his lips out of fear that the Death Eaters would hear him.

He could hardly believe it, but the spell had worked. Before his very eyes, the bindings were cut in half and fell the the floor without a sound.

"_Great job, Al! Now keep going - although, you should probably leave Vic till last. She's been dying to curse these fools since they first got here._"

"_What about their hearing?_" Albus asked him, looking to Victoire, then Dom and Lucy. "_Andy said that the curse has been in them for so long, if anyone but the caster were to take it off, they'd likely never hear again._"

"_They wanted them to hear everything that was said once they got us, so they took it off._"

Albus nodded his head, and continued on to remove Roxanne's bindings.

"That's it! This little freak keeps talking to someone outside the window! Let's go, Nott - we have to find them."

"Idiots," James said as soon as they closed the door behind them. "Need a hand, Al?"

"Sure," Albus replied, pulling off the invisibility cloak.

"That was you two?" Dominique asked, shaking her head. "I should have known."

"Are you ok?" Albus asked Lucy as he and Roxanne very carefully helped her to stand up for the first time in weeks.

"Fine," she replied in a whisper, having not talked for a very long time. "How's Molly? Is she safe? Did the right people find her?"

"She's fine, Luce," Roxanne reassured her with a smile. "She managed to apparate into Hogsmeade. We took it from there."

"Thank Merlin," Lucy whispered, hugging her cousins.

"So, what's the plan?" Dominique asked them determinedly, although barely able to standing her own two feet.

"Kreacher's going to help us get out of here. Then he'll take you three back to Hogwarts, and we're heading into London to save the Ministry," James explained, looking around but not seeing Kreacher. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs, getting Grace," Albus replied just as the two walked through the door.

"Speak of the devil," Victoire managed to get out, holding on to Fred and Louis for dear life.

"Let's get out of here, Kreacher," Albus said to the house elf, who smiled.

"Everyone join hands," he instructed, holding his own out to Grace and Scorpius. "In three, two-"

"Oi! They're getting away!" the Death Eaters yelled to others throughout the house, and they heard them scrambling to get down to where they were.

"-one," Kreacher finished his count.

"Bye bye!" James managed to get out, just as Kreacher turned on the spot and they were gone.


	21. Muggle Parliament

**Chapter Twenty One  
><strong>**Muggle Parliament**

Apparation came with a horrible feeling, Albus had deduced. It was as though you were being squished down into a tiny little tube which you certainly could never fit into, and there was no oxygen there, either.

Needless to say, they were all happy when they once again landed on solid ground.

"Do what you must, James and Albus," Kreacher told the two brothers in an undertone. "Kreacher will join you at the Ministry once he has the three Weasley girls safely back at Hogwarts." And then, he was gone.

"Where are we?" Louis asked, looking around them.

"The muggle House of Parliament," James and Albus said together in awe.

"And how do you-"

"-Dad bought us here once, so we could see where Uncle Dud works," James cut Scorpius off. "He said if we're ever in trouble and can't get to the wizarding family, Uncle Dud's the next best thing."

"He has contacts with other Ministries throughout the world - people who can help us!"

"Kreacher's a genius," the two boys said together, heading towards the entrance.

"It's really old," Scorpius observed as they passed through the door and into a rather impressive foyer.

"It looks like Gringotts," Fred whispered to Roxanne, who nodded in agreement.

"We're here to see Prime Minister Dursley," James announced to the receptionists behind the front counter - who were laughing at him. "Why are they laughing?" he asked his brother who sighed.

"We're a bunch of kids who want to see the Prime Minister of England." In an undertone, he added, "If our parents weren't who our parents are, we'd get the same reaction if we asked to see Kingsley at the Ministry."

"Oh," James said, realisation crossing his face. "Look," he said to the young girl behind the counter, who was still laughing at him, "Dudley Dursley is our Uncle - sort of. He's my dad's cousin, anyway." He shook his head and continued. "Our dad told us if we ever need anything, we have to come here, to Uncle Dudley. Our mum and dad are in serious trouble. We need to see him."

"Honey, if your parents are in trouble, you're better off calling the police. Anyway, Prime Minister Dursley is, like the rest of parliament, in session as we speak."

"At this hour?" Albus asked her, stepping forward.

"They're debating a new Bill. He couldn't come out and see you even in he wanted to. I'm sorry." She paused, and then spoke again. "You're more than welcome to use our phone to call the police if you really need-"

"-Can we go into the public viewing gallery?" Albus cut over her.

"Ah, sure. Down the hall, first set of double doors on the left. But didn't you say-"

"Thank you!" the boys called over their shoulders as they raced down the hall, their cousins in tow.

"Kids," the lady behind the counter muttered, shaking her head and returning to surfing the Internet.

"What are we doing here?" Rose asked as they walked into the public viewing gallery. "We need to get into the Ministry! Or have you forgotten - our entire family is locked up in there!"

"Cool it, Rose," Albus told her, stepping up to the glass and locating his uncle right in the front row. "If they won't let us in to see him, we're going to get his attention."

"Albus - that's brilliant!" James hugged him.

"Well," he replied, struggling out of his brother's grasp, "I am a descendant of the Marauders."

"So how are we going to do this?" James asked, letting his brother take the lead.

"What kind of Weasley products have you got on you?"

"Fireworks, ah...a pasty surprise...couple of decoy detonators?" The four third years finished fishing through their pockets.

"What about ... the fire alarm?" Albus asked, an evil grin beginning to form in his face.

"I've got a box of matches," Roxanne offered.

"Perfect," James replied, taking them and finding the best seat to stand on. "Al, give us the cloak."

"Sure thing," he replied, passing the old silvery material over.

Although they couldn't see what he was doing, the rest of the group heard him light the match and blocked their ears. The fire alarm went off for about twenty seconds before they heard James mutter a charm which silenced it.

The Members of Parliament and the Speaker of the House of Parliament had been panicked at first, but now seemed simply perplexed.

"Must've been a prank by those kids," the Leader of the Opposition deduced, sitting back down comfortably and not giving it a second thought. However, to Prime Minister Dudley Dursley, those were no ordinary kids. As he stared up into the public viewing gallery, his eyes locked with his nephews, which were exactly the same shape and shade as his father's.

Dudley had seen that look of panic in his cousin's eyes only once before.

It was in that moment that Dudley knew something was terribly wrong.

Ignoring the questions of his fellow party members and the Speaker of the House, Dudley left his seat and walked towards the exit, gesturing to Albus to meet him outside.

"I'm terribly sorry," he said as he opened the door. "Family emergency. Unavoidable. I've got to go."

As he reached the hall, Albus looked around desperately for his dad's cousin, whom he knew was their only hope of getting help for the Ministry.

"Albus!" Dudley called, quickly walking up to the group of kids and shepherding them towards the elevators which would take them high above, all the way to his office. "What's going on? Minerva said nothing about term ending. Shouldn't you be at school?"

"We had to come to get help," Albus replied, holding the elevator door so Roxanne could pull James in by the back of his shirt, as he was busy staring at a pretty young girl walking by, wearing a very short skirt. "No, Louis," Albus said to his cousin, who glared at him and stepped back into the muggle contraption. "It's the Veela genes," he quietly explained to Scorpius, who nodded. "As I was saying," by now the lift had begun climbing the floors towards Dudley's office, "we came to get help. Today in Hogsmeade - that's the little wizard village just down the lane from the school - James, Fred, Louis and Roxanne were almost taken by the same people that took the others, but they got away - _down_, Fang!" he pushed the great black dog's paw off his shoulder. "So tonight, we snuck out of the school and went to Italy - Fang, I said _down_!"

"Here Fang!" Grace called him over to the other side of the very cramped space.

"Thanks. So, we went to Italy - don't worry, we called Kreacher-"

"-Only once we got there," Rose corrected him, her Granger genes taking over. "Sorry."

"The point is, Victoire, Dominique and Lucy are safe. Kreacher's taken them back to Hogwarts, and he said he'd meet us at the Ministry once he was done."

"But why do you need to get to the Ministry?" Dudley asked, shepherding the children into his office and motioning to his secretary that she should go.

"Didn't I mention? Rodolphus got inside. He's taken everyone prisoner."

"Can't they just magic themselves out? Sorry, I don't know the technical term."

"It's apparate, and they can't," James offered. "He's taken their wands. They're defenceless."

Five minutes later, Dudley had made some calls to his magical contacts outside the Ministry and had arranged for a team of 36 Aurors to arrive by portkey thirty minutes later.

"They don't have thirty minutes, do they?" Dudley asked the kids, who didn't answer. He sighed, and continued, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you guys are going to have to go in. I know you can protect yourselves, your parents made perfectly sure of that. I've half a mind to call in the bomb squad or something."

"You can't - it's against the Statute of Secrecy," Rose reminded him.

"Yes, but that only applies to wizards. I wonder what the ruling is when it comes to Muggles?" Lucy countered, her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Aunt Hermione would know..."

"So why don't we get going?" Louis suggested. "Then you can ask her yourself."

"Hey Dudley, you mind if we borrow your stapler?" Roxanne asked, picking up the small black piece of equipment.

"I doubt you'll get it back," Scorpius warned him.

"No problems," Dudley replied, obviously tense. "Leave the dog. He can keep me company."

"Portus," Roxanne whispered.

"So, you're name's Fang, hey? You don't look scary like your name suggests. You're just a big, slobbery teddy bear, aren't you?" they heard Dudley say to the giant, ancient dog. "Good luck!" he called, just as the group of kids began to spin and disappear.


	22. The Ministry of Magic

**Chapter Twenty Two  
><strong>**The Ministry of Magic**

As the spinning began to slow and the world started to sit the right way up again, Albus opened his eyes and looked around.

"Where are we?" he asked Scorpius, who shrugged.

"Dunno," the blonde replied, dusting his shirt and reaching down to help Albus up off the floor. "I've never been here before."

"Really?" Rose asked, surprise etched all over her face. "But your mum and dad both work here."

"They've never felt it pertinent to bring me to their workplace."

Albus tuned out of their discussion and turned towards the four third years, who were hurriedly discussing something in a circle on the other side of the giant circular room.

"Where are we, James?" he asked his brother, who looked up and addressed the rest of the cousins.

"We're in the Department of Mysteries."

"I thought it would be best if we landed here, since it's unlikely they've managed to get in, on account of only the Unspeakables knowing how to get in and out," Roxanne offered.

"So how are we going to get out, if only the Unspeakables know?" a very nervous Scorpius asked her.

"Ah, young Malfoy - my mother's one of them," Fred replied with a smile. "We may have overheard her telling our father about how she gets in and out every day."

"You mean you were eavesdropping while Aunt Angie was complaining to Uncle George about how she hates all the rules and regulations to do with getting in and out of it everyday?" Molly clarified.

"Yeah," Roxanne replied, looking around at the doors. "Exit!" she commanded, and to their greatest surprise, a door to their right flew open.

"Now be careful," James warned them, tapping his wand over his head and starting to turn almost invisible. "You three," he gestured to Albus, Rose and Scorpius, "under the cloak. The rest of us will put Dissilusionment Charms on ourselves."

When everyone was ready, James and Grace stepped into the doorway and looked both left and right.

"Let's go," Grace muttered.

As they slowly made their way up to the third floor using the vast magnitude of hidden staircases, the children kept their eyes open for the massive danger presented by Rodolphus and the Death Eaters.

"This place is really creepy," Scorpius muttered, helping Rose up a particularly steep staircase.

"It should be," Albus replied in an undertone, offering his cousin his other hand. "These are the holding cells and courtrooms." He huffed and puffed for a moment, before continuing, "They haven't been used much since the war."

"You mean the Death Eater trials," Scorpius stated in a flat tone of voice. "This is where my grandfather was sentenced to Azkaban, isn't it?"

"Probably, yes," Rose replied in a sad tone. "But let's not dwell on this - we can talk to our parents about it later."

"Wait a minute," Roxanne, who was not invisible, but blending in to her surroundings like a chameleon, suddenly stopped walking. "Everyone shut up for a minute."

For a moment, they heard the distant cries of terrified people. And then: "SILENCE!"

The word rang through the air like a gunshot.

"You," they distantly heard the menacing voice continue. "Who might you be?"

"A-astoria," they heard a quiet voice choke out. "Astoria Malfoy."

Scorpius, although naturally pale, lost what little colour he had in his face. "Mum?" he whispered, terrified.

"No! Stop! Where are you taking her?" they heard the desperate cries of their Aunt Audrey.

"SILENCE!" the menacing voice roared again. "My dear nephew's wife," the voice continued, much quieter this time. "Well, let's have some fun, shall we? Crucio!"

Beneath Astoria's screams and the silent sobs of a terrified Scorpius, Albus and James locked eyes. "Rodolphus," they whispered in perfect unison.

"We've got to do something," Rose whispered, doing all she could to stop a shaking Scorpius from falling back down the staircase.

"Leave it to me," Grace whispered, pulling out her fangs and concentrating very, very hard. "Remember how I told you vampire's can't turn into bats?" she added conversationally to James, who nodded. "Well, we can't." She smiled, turned towards them and pulled her arms back as though she were about to run in a race. "But we can fly."

With that, she was off, propelling herself into the air. "Meet me in the atrium!" she called loud enough for Rodolphus and his thugs to hear.

"What the-"

"Let's go," James muttered, grabbing Scorpius' arm from the outside of the cloak and leading them onwards.

"James, we can't go to the atrium - they'll know we're there," Fred whispered, reaching through the cloak and taking hold of Scorpius' other arm, pulling him out into the open and allowing Albus and Rose to go ahead of them.

"I know that," James replied, readjusting his grip on the young Malfoy's arm. "That's why we're heading up to the Auror Department."

"Genius," Roxanne whispered ahead of them.

"Almost there," Fred groaned as he and James forced the young boy ahead of them on the extremely narrow staircase.

"Wait," Albus whispered, stepping forward and looking through the small keyhole on the door. "The hallway's filled with Death Eaters," he continued, standing up and turning around to face James.

"What do we do?" Rose asked, looking to each of the four barely visible forms surrounding them.

"I don't know," Molly replied glumly.

"Hey James," Albus grinned, pulling off the cloak and stuffing it back into his jumper. "You still got those decoy detonators?"

"You, sir, are pure genius," James replied, removing his disillusionment charm, and grinning an identical grin. "Here," James handed him one, and opened the door by just a crack.

Together, the boys nodded their heads and took a deep breath. "Wingardium leviosa," they breathed in perfect unison, levitating both detonators high above the Death Eaters heads all the way to the other end of the long hallway.

"Three, two, one," Roxanne muttered, pointing to the doorway.

Beyond the door, there was a loud bang, and the putrid smell of smoke filled the air.

"Waz going on?" one of the Death Eaters asked drowsily, getting up off the floor and following his colleagues, who were sprinting to find the cause of the commotion.

"Idiots," James muttered, joining Albus and leading the group towards the now unguarded doors to the Auror Department.

"Alohamora," Rose whispered, pointing her wand at the doors and opening it just enough to peer in. "All clear," she told them, slipping through the tiny gap.

"After you," Albus motioned to Roxanne, who pulled Scorpius in with her.

"Here's Grace," James whispered, opening the door slightly wider so she could fly inside. "Wonder who she's got with her?"

"Probably Aunt Audrey and Astoria," Albus guessed, stepping over the threshold. "Definitely Aunt Audrey and Astoria," he confirmed just as James closed the door with a tiny click.

"Mum!" Scorpius exclaimed, running forward and hugging his mother.

"Harry?" they heard their Uncle Ron ask from one of the offices further down the Auror Department corridor. "Harry, what's going on?"

"Ron, stay down!" they heard their Aunt Hermione reply exasperatedly. "We'll find out in a second."

The group of kids heard footsteps, and then saw the unmistakable red hair and pony tail of their Uncle Bill. "James? Fred, Roxanne? Guys - it's the kids!" he called over his shoulder.

"What in the name of Merlin's saggy left-"

"Ronald!" Albus' Aunt Hermione and Grandma Molly cut over him.

"Dad!" he exclaimed, running forward and hugging his dishevelled looking father, whose glasses weren't sitting straight on his face. "Dad, I know it was stupid to come, but I'm sorry," he continued without even giving his father the chance to reprimand him. "James, Fred, Louis and Roxanne were almost taken, and they overheard where they were keeping the girls when they were getting away. So we snuck out of Hogwarts through the Shrieking Shack and took a portkey to Italy. We called Kreacher and he helped us to get the girls and get out of there. He dropped us as Parliament House and took the girls back to Hogwarts, and we managed to get in to see Uncle Dudley. He used his contacts to get a team of overseas Aurors, who should be here any minute, but we knew you guys didn't have that kind of time, so we took another portkey into the Department of Mysteries and used the old staircases to get up here," he raced out, much to his father's surprise.

"Give him a signed confession, why don't you," James groaned, stepping forward and briefly hugging his father. "He left out the bits about Fred and I depositing Weasley products through all the doorways and generally causing mayhem for the Death Eaters."

"That's my boy," George Weasley smiled, pulling his twins towards him and Angelina in a group hug.

"And don't worry, Frank, Hugo and Lily are safe at Hogwarts, causing as much mischief as they can without being noticed to keep Professor McGonagall off our tracks," Rose added, hugging both of her parents.

"But why not go to Professor McGonagall and tell her what you found out?" Hermione asked her daughter, who looked to her cousins with fearful wide eyes.

"Hermione, you said it yourself," Harry jumped in, smiling at his sons. "They're just like us. How many times could we have gone to Dumbledore, or Minerva, or even Ron's parents? We never did."

"Yeah, 'Mione," Ron jumped in, lowering himself gingerly into a chair. "We didn't. And face it, even if we'd though about it, we probably wouldn't have done it."

"Imagine how many times we would've got detention if we had told them," Harry laughed, ruffling James' hair. "We would've given you a run for your money."

Before the conversation could continue, they heard Rodolphus' voice from down the hallway, and it was clear he knew something was going on.

"Quick - into dad's office," Ginny and Molly began shepherding the kids towards the largest office at the very back of the Auror Department.

"Boys," Harry got James and Albus' attention. "The Aurors Dudley's organised will need a way in, and Rodolphus sealed all the entrances."

"Then how - ?"

"Bomborda maxima," Harry whispered, closing the door and gesturing to the pot of Floo powder sitting on the fireplace's mantelpiece.

"Bomborda...?" James muttered, looking to Albus in his confusion.

"He means we've got to break the barrier they've put on the fireplace. Then we can Floo back to Uncle Dudley and bring the Aurors in ourselves."

"Genius," Fred smiled.

"Ok, everyone back against that wall," James instructed taking out his wand.

"Wait - won't it make a lot of noise?" Roxanne asked.

"I think mum and dad have that covered," Albus replied, pointing towards the office door.

Sure enough, his parents had begun screaming at each other at the top of their lungs.

"I WANT A DIVORCE!" they heard Harry yell.

"YOU WANT WHAT?" came Ginny's equally angry sounding reply. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, HARRY JAMES POTTER, NOT MINE! IF YOU HADN'T BEEN SO SET ON SAVING THE WORLD AND DESTROYING VOLDEMORT, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED! WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST BE NORMAL!"

"Weird," James shuddered, shaking his head and ignoring the fake argument his parents were putting on for show. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Albus replied, echoing his words from months ago.

"Three, two," Fred counted down, nodding his head and blocking his ears.

"Bombora maxima!" the two boys exclaimed, blocking their ears as soon as the spell had been cast.

The wall blocking the fireplace blasted into a million tiny little pieces, causing one a loud explosion sound. The kids all looked nervously towards the door, but there was no indication that anyone had heard anything, on account of the fact that the whole family were now screaming at each other outside.

"IF YOU HATE ME SO MUCH, WHY DIDN'T YOU MARRY HERMIONE!" Ginny screamed.

"Urgh," the kids all shuddered at once, momentarily forgetting the task at hand.

"Come on," Albus grabbed James' shirt and a fistful of Floo powder. "We'll be back as soon as we've go the Aurors."

"Be safe," Grace instructed in a voice filled with worry.

"No worries, Fangs," James replied with a smile. "We'll be fine."

Albus dropped the powder into the fireplace and called, "Office of the Prime Minister of England!"

They span once in the bright green flames, and disappeared from the fireplace.

"Uncle Dud!" James called out as he and Albus fell out of the fireplace, catching onto the edge of Dudley Dursley's desk at the last moment to stop themselves from ending up on then floor.

"James, Albus, are you ok?" their concerned Uncle asked, grabbing hold of one of Albus' shoulders to stop his onimous swaying.

"Fine," Albus replied, slowly sitting himself down on the floor. "I think I might have accidentally breathed some Floo powder in."

James chuckled, and turned to face Dudley. "We got into the Ministry, found out what was going on, and broke out through dad's office," he explained to Dudley and the visiting Aurors. "Rodolphus has the family locked up in the front of the Auror Department. Our cousins are hiding in my dad's office at the back."

"The rest of the Ministry employees are in the cells down by the old courtrooms," Albus offered from the floor.

"Great work, kids. I'm Barnabus, by the way - Tim Barnabus, Head of the Aurors of the United States of America," the large blonde man at the front introduced himself with a smile.

"Cool," James replied. "I'm James Potter, and this is my brother Albus. Our dad, Harry is the Head of the Auror Department here."

"What's the situation with wands?" Barnabus asked, waving his hand to dismiss the Auror beside him, who was about to start talking.

"Rodolphus and the Death Eaters have taken them - all of them," James explained. "There's Death Eaters all throughout the Ministry, and they've all got wands."

"I'm pretty sure they've been fighting without wands, James," Albus jumped in, receiving confused looks from the overseas Aurors. "Muggle duelling," he offered, to a round of understanding noises. "Dad's got bruises starting to form all over his face, and I'm pretty sure Uncle Ron's got a couple of broken bones."

"We can get you in," James summed it up, "but you're going to need more hands."

"Not wands?" the Auror Barnabus had shushed before piped up.

"Hands," James replied, "and maybe kitchen utensils."

The adults were confused for a moment, until Albus called, "Kreacher!"

With a tiny pop, the elderly elf appeared by Albus' side and immediately bent forward into a deep bow. "Master Albus, Master James," he said, now standing up straight. "The three girls are safely at the Hogwarts, being treated by Madam Pomfrey. Kreacher was just about to apparate to the Ministry."

"Change of plans, Kreacher," James replied, gesturing to the American Aurors. "These guys are here to get our people out, but they're going to need a few more hands."

"Kreacher will be back momentarily," the tiny elf replied, disappearing and reappearing not even two minutes later. "Kreacher has brought the Hogwarts house-elves," he declared, dusting off Albus' robes and straightening his tie. "They will arrive in a moment."

Sure enough, there were tiny pops throughout the large office, and fifty or more tiny house elves appeared in the office simultaneously.

"If you can get us in, we'll get you kids out," Barnabus nodded to the two boys, who simply looked at each other, their eyes conveying precisely the same message: There was no way they'd be leaving.

"Office of Harry Potter, Head of the Auror Department!" Albus called clearly as he stepped into the fireplace, five Aurors behind him.

"Albus!" Rose called, standing up the second she saw her cousins.

"Dad and Uncle Harry ran out, so Rodolphus and the Death Eaters are running after them," Louise explained, holding up a drawer he'd pulled out of the desk. "And guess what we found in their absence?"

"The idiots were stupid enough to leave the wands in the office!" Fred exclaimed happily, picking one up. "I think this is your dad's," he said, handing it to Louis.

"This is Auror Barnabus and some of his team," Albus told them, gesturing to the men and women behind him. "They're from the United States - Uncle Dudley called them."

"Sweet!" Fred said, stepping forward and holding out his hand for someone to shake. "Fred Weasley. Say, do you have any good joke shops there in the States?"

"Not now, Fred!" Albus sighed, stepping forward and opening the door just a crack. "Mum?" he whispered.

"It's all clear, sweetheart," Ginny Potter replied, standing up and beckoning her youngest son forward. "Dad and Uncle Bill lured them all out. It's just us now."

"The Aurors Uncle Dudley called are here," Albus replied, opening the door and walking out to his mother. "Mum, this is Auror Barnabus. Auror Barnabus, this is my mum, Ginny Potter."

"It's a pleasure," Auror Barnabus replied in awe. "I'm a huge quidditch fan," he explained quietly. "You were the best chaser the Harpies have ever seen! Gwenog Jones included."

"Oh, thank you," Ginny replied. "I don't mean to be rude, but can we continue this conversation later? We've got some Death Eater butts to kick."

"Of course," Auror Barnabus replied. "I believe the kids have found something you might be wanting back."

"Our wands!" Angelina Weasley exclaimed, diving forward. "I have never been so happy to see this."

"It's amazing how unprotected I feel without it, given I was raised in the muggle world," Hermione observed.

"Again, let's do this later," Ginny cut in, taking her own wand and that belonging to her husband. "I'll give this to dad when he gets back," she whispered to Albus, sliding the wand into her boot.

"I thought we were done with this whole saving-the-world thing before we were twenty," Ron commented from his spot on the floor, where Audrey and Hermione were performing healing spells on him.

"So did I," came Harry's voice, as he and Bill ran back into the room. "Kids, into the office. I want you to Floo back to Dudley's office and stay there until we send more instructions. Floo Hogwarts and tell Neville what's going on - I think it's time to rally the old troops."

"Dumbledore's Army!" the Weasley adults exclaimed, firmly gripping their wands and racing back towards the corridor with the Aurors in tow.

"There's no way I'm going back to Uncle Dudley's office just so we can sit tight and wait until the adults deal with the mess!" Fred exclaimed, not at all masking his displeasure.

"I say we fight," James said, drawing himself up to his full height. "We know how to defend ourselves - they taught us that for just this sort of situation."

"But James, the idea of teaching us that was if we were attacked by surprise. They don't want us to run straight into it!" Rose exclaimed in an exasperated tone.

"Albus has a mean shield charm. Fred and Roxanne can manipulate any object to cause maximum mayhem and possibly destruction. Louis specialises in getting us into places they don't want us to be. Molly can get sense out of anyone, about any topic. Rose is like a walking textbook, and Scorpius has a real knack for finding things," James listed. "Face it: they need us."

"Wait, what about you?" Albus asked him.

"Me? I'm the mastermind."

The kids took a moment, looking at each other and smiling.

"So," Albus broke the silence, a mischievous grin on his face. "What's the plan?"

"It works like this..."


	23. The Master Plan

**Chapter Twenty Three  
><strong>**The Master Plan**

"Has anyone else noticed that James conveniently organised this so he and Grace end up partnered together?"

"Shut up, Rose," Scorpius' voice replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Excuse me?" she replied, clearly angry.

"Quit it, both of you," Albus interrupted their fight in the making. "We're in the air vents; if they hear us they'll know we're here."

"Since when does the Ministry use something as Muggle-like as air conditioning, anyway?" Scorpius asked them in a whisper.

"The Atrium below us is built in the basement of the original building," Rose explained, true to her nature. "The Muggles who used the building before we did must have had it installed."

"Let's keep the chit-chat to an absolute minimum," they heard James whisper from the Atrium below them. "Our parents are already going to kills us - we don't want anyone dying prematurely."

"That's for sure," a familiar voice said behind the trio of first years.

"Teddy!" Rose exclaimed. "You scared me!"

"Be thankful it's me and not one of Rodolphus' henchmen," the metamorphmogus replied, his hair changing from a calm green to an anxious grey. "What are you lot doing here, anyway?"

"James' idea," the first years chorused.

"Come on!" James whisper yelled. "Why don't you print it on the front page of the _Daily Prophet_?"

"This is going to make headlines, James," Grace reminded him, "whether we come out of it or not."

"Don't think like that," James whispered back. "Nothing bad is going to happen."

"Is that so?" Albus heard his voice before he moved his head slightly to the left and found himself looking at Rodolphus through the vent. "Let's see: dark hair, brown eyes, a little too big for your boots - you must be Potter's oldest! But you," he turned to stare at Grace, "you, I don't know."

She closed her eyes and opened them a moment later with a smile. "I'm the girls with fangs," she told him, launching forward and grazing Rodolphus' arm with her sharpest teeth.

Rodolphus yelped and jumped backwards, raising his wand and directing it exactly between Grace's eyes. "Any last words?" he asked menacingly.

"Uh, yeah," she replied with attitude. "I NEED A HOUSE ELF!" she bellowed at the top of her lungs, knowing she would have attracted the attention of the rest of the Death Eaters in the vicinity.

Rodolphus began laughing as his henchmen ran up and stopped behind him.

"What is going-" Teddy began, but was cut off by Scorpius.

"Three, two, one."

All at once, fifty or more tiny house elves apparated, each holding a kitchen utensil and the arm of an Auror.

"You were saying?" Grace asked Rodolphus, who had been struck dumb.

Suddenly, the red phone box that functioned as the visitors entrance lowered itself into the grand Atrium, and thirty adults - who Albus all knew to be members of Dumbledore's Army - spilled out, at exactly the same time as lifts at the end of the hall opened, revealing all of the trapped Ministry workers and, in the lift in the very centre, the family.

"What in God's name is going on?" Harry called, so shocked that he reverted to a muggle phrase most in the room did not understand.

"Scared?" James asked Rodolphus cheekily.

"Crucio! CRUCIO!" he called again when nothing happened.

"You know what I learned today?" James asked his would-be attacker conversationally. "When a wizard is grazed by vampire fangs - like the ones Grace got you with before - their magic is temporarily hindered."

"That's our cue," Scorpius whispered, jumping in his crouched position and causing the part of the vent they were hiding in to crash to the ground.

The three eleven-year-olds and Teddy rolled out of the former vent, and stood up with their wands outstretched.

"Welcome to life as a muggle," Teddy quipped, his hair turning blue again.

"AVA-" one of the Death Eaters behind Rodolphus roared, only to find himself thwarted by a first year.

"PROTEGO!" Albus roared, causing a giant opaque shield to erupt out of his wand and encase the group of kids, and everyone standing behind them.

"I have half a mind to kill you," Harry told him, stepping forward and placing his hand on his youngest son's shoulder, "but I think I'll arrest you instead. That way, you lot can all rot in Azkaban."

"MOSMORDRE!" one of the Death Eaters yelled, right before they all turned on the spot and vanished into thin air.

"DAMMIT!" Harry roared lunging forward and missing grabbing Rodolphus by less than a centimetre.

"It's ok, dad," Albus reassured him, squatting down on the floor beside his father, who was now sitting there, staring blankly ahead. "We'll get him next time."

"Potter!" they heard a Scottish voice called through the resounding silence.

"Uh-oh," James muttered, his eyes opening wide as saucers. He tried - unsuccessfully - to make a run for it, but:

"Stop right there, young man!" Ginny Potter called, stepping forward to reprimand her son as the rest of those in the hall busied themselves with small talk in an attempt to avoid the awkward family confrontation. "What you did was stupid, idiotic, and worthy of me locking you in your bedroom for the rest of your life," she told him seriously. "But that would make me a hypocrite," she continued in a much softer tone. "When I was fourteen, someone I loved was in serious trouble, so Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Lune, Neville dad and I did exactly what you did - we raced from Hogwarts to here, all to try and save him."

"Sirius," Albus whispered.

Ginny nodded her head solemnly. "The difference is, we didn't check anything - and it was a trap."

Harry sighed, and bent down to the level of his youngest son. "But you guys tried - while you were gone, the others told us everything. Yes, what you did was stupid, but you did it the right way. I would have done exactly the same thing," he finished, ruffling his son's hair. "You're a Gryffindor, buddy, through and through," he whispered for only Albus to hear.

"Thanks dad," Albus replied with a smile. "You and mum aren't really going to get a divorce, are you?" he whispered even quieter than his father.

"No, Al," Harry replied, putting an arm around his wife and kissing her cheek. "I love your mother more now than I did when I first kissed her in sixth year."

"Eww!" James exclaimed, slapping his hands across his ears.

"Let's go," Harry gestured to the kids and their parents, facing Auror Barnabus. "I think our American counterparts would like to get some sleep after their long journey. And I know you'll want to head a joint investigation, Auror Barnabus," he added quickly. "I'll be happy to discuss that with you in the morning."

"Minerva," he continued, turning to a very baffled Professor McGonagall, "would you be kind enough to house our visitors at Hogwarts?"

"Of course, Mr Potter," she replied, stepping forward. "I see our house elves are here, too. Will you require their testimony in the course of your investigation?"

"Naturally," Harry replied. "That is, if they don't mind?" he asked the room at large.

A resounding chorus of "No Sir!", "Not at all, Sir!" and "It would be an honour, Sir!" greeted his words.

"Let's have the wounded pair up with an Auror," Ron turned and began organising the leaving parties. "It's probably best we have them treated at Hogwarts, too."

"I'll get Gran to send a team of Healers to the Hospital Wing," Teddy offered, before turning on the spot and disappearing with a crack.

"Ok, let's get going. Everyone will take turns heading up through the visitors entrance to street level; we'll organise portkeys straight to Hogwarts," Harry commanded, taking Ginny's hand and stepping into the red telephone box with Scorpius, Grace and the rest of the Weasley relatives.

They arrived on the street and stepped out of the phone box not noticing anything was wrong. Then, Hermione turned to face the building.

High above the old building that served its place on the Muggle street was a Dark Mark, highly illuminated in the night sky. But that was not all.

_Sleep with one eye open_, the words below the terrifying image read, _for I will not rest until I evoke my revenge_.


	24. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hi everyone! I want to thank you for all your kind words and for reading this story. I wanted to let you all know that the sequel, _Albus Potter and the Ghosts of Founders Past_ is now up! I hope you all enjoy reading about the adventures of Albus, Rose and Scorpius' second year as much as I am enjoying writing it!


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